This scene is based on Las moradas [The mansions] (1588), the text by the Saint in which she describes her “spiritual marriage” to Christ. Like its pair (P8152), this canvas was part of the altarpiece of Saint Teresa in the monastery of San Alberto in Seville. Both were painted in the same year that Zurbarán executed The Apparition of Saint Peter to Saint Peter Nolasco, which shares the visual language and moving expressivity of Cano’s two canvases.

The image thus also refers to her activity as a writer, in turn associated with her status as founder of the Discalced Carmelites and which earned her the title of "Doctor of the Church" (1970).