The Virgin Mary and Christ child with saints (the 'Felicini' altar piece). Drawing by F. Rosaspina, c. 1830, after F. Francia, 1494.

The donor of the painting is shown kneeling to the left of Saint Sebastian. He is Bartolommeo Felicini of Bologna. G.C. Williamson notes that he had "funded the chapel in Church of the Misericordia outside the city walls, and ... now desired to decorate the high altar in the same church in recognition of special mercies bestowed upon him in a recent serious illness" ('Francia', London: G. Bell, 1901, p. 38)

The saints depicted are, from left to right: Saint John the Baptist, Saint Monica, Saint Augustine, Saint Francis, Saint Proculus the soldier (or, according to Rosaspina, Saint Vitalis) and Saint Sebastian