The lavish use of mordant gilding is characteristic of Bergognone, in whose work the mordant (the adhesive to which the gold leaf is attached) is applied in thick relief.

The painting is likely to be an early work influenced by Vincenzo Foppa, then one of the most esteemed painters in Lombardy. Bernardino was the chief assistant to his brother Ambrogio Bergognone, one of the leading artists in Milan when Leonardo arrived there in 1482.