The work was commissioned by Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga for the Jesuit church in Mantua, while Rubens was his court painter.

The canvas portrays Vincenzo I and his wife Eleonora de' Medici near images of the duke's parents, Guglielmo Gonzaga and Eleonore of Austria.

The Archduchess was most devoted to the Society (her personal confessor was a Jesuit) and promoted the construction of the Mantuan church of the Trinity, for which the Rubens cycle was created.

[1]: 84  In the period of Napoleonic looting, the Church of the Holy Trinity was sacked and the Flemish paintings were removed by the commissioner Etienne-Marie Siauve.

The painting depicts an open-air scene in a gallery with, on the side, two rows of richly historiated, twisted columns and a balustrade in perspective.

The only fragment referring to the future empress Eleonora is that of the little dog, which the girl was caressing (as testified in old descriptions of the work).

[2] The choice of this resemblance is not casual, but is an explicit homage to the Spanish crown to reiterate the loyalty of the Gonzagas to the Hapsburg monarchy.

The family also wears clothes of Spanish style, such as the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece worn by the Duke—an important honor conferred by the Hapsburgs as heirs of the Dukes of Burgundy.

[2] Nor does the painting lack references to Raphael: indeed, educational trips to Rome were one of the fundamental steps of the young Rubens.

Their twisted design recalls those of the legendary Temple of Solomon, which according to ancient belief were brought to Rome and used to build the Basilica of Saint Peter.

This compositional choice has a single reason, it is a meditation in line with the severe dictates of the Council of Trent for religious depictions.

The branch is a tribute to the mother of the Duke and is linked to the intended location of the painting: the ivy appears, in the enterprise of the Archduchess of the Hapsburgs, as a symbol of conjugal devotion (since this plant can't live if separated from the tree to which it is attached).

The tribute to the deceased mother of the Duke adds, perhaps, to the idea that her female virtues are an example to all the women of the Gonzaga family, united in adoration.