Painter to the King of Aragon, Francesc Comes worked on the island of Majorca. Lavish detail and the unusual format of this painting point to its historic importance. The donor kneeling in prayer next to the Virgin may even be the king himself.
Gardner acquired this painting in 1901, believing it to be the work of a Northern Italian painter. Strong links between Renaissance Italy and Aragon probably account for the stylistic similarities between paintings from the two geographically disparate locations. Gardner probably first saw the painting in 1897, years before she purchased it, when she visited the gallery of the Parisian collector Émile Gavet, from whom she acquired several works of Gothic art.
