Between 1685 and 1687, the Opera della Metropolitana had the interior side of the central portal decorated, reusing for this purpose two monumental columns from the altar dedicated to the Four Crowned Saints. In order to reach the proper height, the columns had to be put on pedestals, around which were placed panels illustrating stories from the life of the Virgin Mary, carved by Urbano da Cortona for the destroyed chapel of Our Lady of Grace.

Five panels were inserted into the sides of these pedestals: two whole ones on the front sides, Our Lady Instructing the Apostles and Mary Bidding Farewell to the Apostles; for the smaller spaces on the shorter sides, three reliefs were chosen that lent themselves to adaptation. One illustrating the Birth of the Virgin was cut in two and the pieces attached to the exterior sides of the two pedestals, while the other two, which presented a central composition, that is, the Assumption of the Virgin and her Coronation, were cut down on both sides and set on the interior sides towards the portal.

Four sections found a new home in the railing above the portal: the Wedding of the Virgin, Mary’s Return to her Parents’ House, the Funeral of the Virgin, and her Burial.

Six more panels from the cycle were attached in the eighteenth century to the side of the bell tower inside the cathedral, under the Del Testa Piccolomini tomb. On the left . . .