Vatican Museums

The three small panels illustrate Faith, Hope and Charity, flanked by winged cherubs who carry their characteristics (small tablets with the Greek monograms CPX and IHS, allusive to Christ, object of faith, for the first; trusting attitudes for Hope; a brazier with flames and a basin full of coins for Charity). It is quite likely that Charity occupied the central position, flanked by Hope on the left and by Faith on the right.
The theological virtues form the predella sections of the Baglioni altar-piece which illustrated the Deposition of Christ, painted for the family chapel in the church of S. Francesco al Prato in Perugia and now preserved in the Galleria Borghese in Rome. The altarpiece, painted by Raphael in 1507, was commissioned by Atalanta Baglioni in memory of her son Grifone, assassinated in 1500 in a family feud that arose to obtain control of Perugia.