The execution of the painting, together with the one of the Virgin Enthroned, was assigned on March 8, 1521 to Pietro Vannucci by the canons of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore; the painter, now at the end of his artistic career, completed both tasks in the following two months.

The two chapels on the sides of the main altar on which the two frescoes were located were then dismantled in 1644 by the architect Belardino da Como, but without eliminating the back wall: the frescoes were never transferred, not even temporarily, from the place for which they were conceived.

The style of the work reflects the last stylistic phase of Perugino (who died two years later): the space is represented in a simplified manner, while the figures are bidimensional, and the colors are soft and transparent.

The painting is preserved at the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Spello.