[1] Investigation has suggested that the artist first posed the figures sitting erect in the center of the composition, in the manner of Giovanni Bellini.

However, the final pose is more informal, emphasising the tender bond between the mother and her child.

It was later acquired by Brownlow Cecil, 9th Earl of Exeter, in whose family collection it remained until 1888.

It then passed through several private collections before being acquired in 1928 by Jules Bache, after whom it is named.

After his death it was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1949, where it now resides.