Borgoña was a key artist for the development of painting in Castile from the time of his arrival in Toledo in 1495. His surname suggests a Burgundian origin but in this composition the delicate figures, the landscape and the limpid light can be associated with the Italian schools of Tuscany and Umbria. Considered to have introduced Italian Quattrocento forms into Castile, Juan de Borgoña made use of colour and light to give volume and monumentality to the human figure. It is likely that this panel, together with another one in the Musée du Louvre, were the lateral elements from a Crucifixion commissioned for the monastery of Santo Domingo el Real in Madrid.