Piombo was the Italian painter most in demand by Spanish clients during the first half of the sixteenth century. Fernando de Silva, Count of Cifuentes and ambassador to Rome from 1533 to 1536, commissioned him to paint Christ carrying the Cross, which is now at the Hermitage Museum and is extraordinarily similar to the present work. The Prado´s work is less dramatic, in part because here, Christ is not wearing the Crown of thorns. As part of the Royal Collection, this work was listed in the Aranjuez Palace inventory of 1818. The first mention of it in the Prado dates from 1857.