Saint Mary Cleophas and Her Family together with its companion piece Saint Mary Salome and Her Family, also in the National Gallery, were wings from an altarpiece combining painting and sculpture that was dedicated to the Holy Kinship or extended family of Christ. There was a fascination with the details of the life of the Holy Family as well as a growing desire to experience the Gospels on a human level in the late Middle Ages. According to the Golden Legend, written about 1270 as a compilation of earlier tales, Saint Anne married three times, her second husband being the father of Mary Cleophas, who was thus the half-sister of the Virgin Mary.|