The painting, created by a court artist of Emperor Rudolf II residing in Prague, was commissioned for the Church of the Holy Trinity in Żórawina near Wrocław by Adam von Hanniwaldt – an imperial councillor. The piece decorated the epitaph of his parents and, beside the group of sculptures entitled The Flagellation of Christ by Adriaen de Vriesa, it was one of the greatest Mannerist pieces of the church’s interior design. It is one of only several religious images made by Bartholomäus Spranger, but its quality matches his paintings of mythological scenes.