The work and Saint Januarius Interceding were commissioned by Gaspare de Bracamonte, Spanish viceroy of Naples. They were originally intended for the side altars of the new church of Santa Maria del Pianto in Poggioreale, where most of the plague victims were buried, with the commission for the high altarpiece going to the other major artist then resident in Naples, Andrea Vaccaro. Giordano's two works marked the end of the 1656 plague in Naples.[1]
