The work was commissioned by the merchant Felice Cassotti from Lotto while the latter was working in Bergamo. The painting hung in the nuptial bedroom of Cassotti's son. The work is signed on the Madonna's throne. The painting once hung in the Palazzo Quirinale.

Lotto in 1523 had painted a portrait of the married couple, Marsilio Cassotti and Faustina Assonica, a work now in the Prado Museum. In this depiction of the mystical marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, the saint kneeling accepts from the child Jesus a rose, the latter symbol of love and martyrdom; in her left hand is a marital ring. Hanging from a sash is a purse with the name of Christ; the sash has a medallion with an angel holding a balance. Around these figures are St Jerome paging his bible, with lion at the feet (left lower corner); St George dressed as a knight with his lance (left upper corner); beside him hovering behind the Virgin is St Sebastian with an arrow; Saint Nicholas of Myra with a bishop's crozier with three gold spheres, conversing with St Anthony Abbot with bells (right upper corner).^[1] Like many other Lotto paintings, the figures seem engaged in movement.