[4][5] Following the 1814 completion and exhibition of his rendition of the Judgement of Solomon, Haydon began working on another grandiose biblical subject matter, Christ's entry into Jerusalem before his crucifixion.

[5] By December of 1817, Haydon had completed enough of the work to unveil it at his home to an audience of guests including William Wordsworth and John Keats, who were also meeting each other for the first time.

This exhibition was Haydon's first major endeavor as a commercial artist, and he borrowed the approach of street painters in nearby Leicester Square by selling programs with a key to understand the important portions of the work.

[4] The biblical painting was also upstaged by the premiere of the The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault, which was being shown next door to Haydon's work at the same time.

[6] Despite positive reviews, the painting failed to be purchased and Haydon re-entered it in the annual exhibition of the Royal Society of British Artists.