The painting was probably commissioned by the Elector of Saxony, Frederic the Wise (1486-1525) for the chapel at the Wittenberg castle. Completed by Dürer after his first visit to Italy (1494-1495), the panel exemplifies the fusion of northern attention to detail, a typically Italian perspective, and a color sense influenced by the Venetian painting of Mantegna and Giovanni Bellini. It has been in the Uffizi since 1793 following an exchange with the Imperial Gallery of Vienna.