This is the central panel of the Altar piece of Saint Dominic, brought -with three other paintings in the Prado (P609, P610, P616)- from the Convent of Santo Tomás in Ávila, the headquarters of the Inquisition. For the creation of the cycles of images in the altarpieces for the monastery of Santo Tomás in Ávila, Tomás de Torquemada probably gave Pedro de Berruguete access to an illuminated manuscript of legends of the Dominican saints of the type owned by many of the Order’s communities. It would have provided the starting point for altarpieces in which the painter, following the authoritarian monk’s instructions, introduced various iconographic modifications intended to give these hagiographic cycles an inquisitorial significance.

In response to Satan’s attacks on the early Dominicans, a procession is established in honour of the Virgin in which the "Salve Regina" is sung. In this panel, which was executed for the altarpiece of Santo Domingo in the Convent of Santo Tomás in Avila, Mary appears to the friars who, except for the officiating priest, are unaware of her presence.