The altarpiece was realized by Perugino on behalf of the Franciscan friars of Monteripido, a monastery just outside Porta Sant’Angelo in Perugia, for the altar of their church; in the agreement of accommodation is specified that in the side towards the choir (the front) the figures of the Madonna, Mary Magdalene, Saint John the Evangelist, Saint Francis and two angels were to be distributed around the Crucifix, with a surprising three-dimensional effect; on the side facing the chapel reserved for women (the verse) instead, Perugino should have depicted a Coronation of the Virgin with the Apostles below. Originally, the altarpiece also included a predella, now dispersed, showing San Bernardino from Siena, the well-known preacher in honor of which the oratory of San Bernardino in San Francesco al Prato was built, decorated in the facade by Agostino di Duccio in the second half of the fifteenth century and Blessed Bernardino da Feltre, one of the supporters and founders of the Monte di Pietà, a non-profit loan bank of charitable value.