The painting reached the Civic Museums of Pavia in 1892 through the legacy of GC Francesco Reale, coming from the Pavia monastery of the Poor Clares of S. Chiara la Reale. It was a foundation of Bianca Maria Visconti that the duchess wanted to be built near the church of S. Francesco, keeping close the two forms of consecrated life, male and female, born from the experience of Saint Francis and Saint Clare of Assisi. The monastic complex included the church of the Annunciata of which there is no longer a trace.

The subject of Gentile da Fabriano's youthful panel confirms the provenance of the sisters of Saint Clare from the monastery and emphasizes the closeness of the second Order (the Poor Clares) to the first Franciscan Order (the friars who observe the Rule of Saint Francis of 'Assisi). The small poplar panel, painted in tempera and gold, bears the iconography of the Madonna and Child seated in an elevated position as if on a throne of clouds, between Saints Francis and Clare.