Originally a triptych, all three parts are now framed together. The panels represent: The Birth of Christ, The Adoration of the Magi and The Purification.

This work shows considerable influence by Roger van der Weyden. It was an innovation to place scenes from the Epiphany and the Birth under the same architecture represented from different points of view. Made in Bruges, this triptych shows how much its author was indebted to the van Eyck brothers from the time he settled in that city in 1465. This is clear in the importance of vertical lines in the composition and in its monumental character.

The triptych belonged to Carlos V, who assigned it to the chapel of the Royal Lodgings in Aceca, near Toledo.