It was commissioned by the Peruvian government for the 1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris.

[1] Montero had been granted a number of scholarships by the Peruvian government to study in Europe, notably in Florence.

Initially exhibited in his Florentine workshop, it received a large amount of coverage in Paris, and was later taken to South America from Florence, where it was exhibited the following year in Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo and Buenos Aires.

Returning to Lima in September 1868, where it was exhibited one final time, he gifted the painting to Congress.

[1] After Montero's death in 1869, his painting of Atahualpa was looted when the Chilean Army entered and occupied Lima during the War of the Pacific, being exhibited in the country's National Museum prior to its return to Peru through the efforts of Ricardo Palma.