The present picture relates to a work by Solimena (see below) which formed part of the decorations commissioned by Raimondo Bonaccorsi for his palace at Macerata. Bonaccorsi commissioned frescoes on the theme of the Aeneid from Carlo Antonio Rambaldi and Antonio Dardani, and a series of oil paintings from renowned painters of the day including Garzi, Gambarini, Franceschini, Lazzarini and Balestra (F. Haskell, loc. cit.), to complete the decorations in the gallery.

The construction of the palace, designed by the Roman architect Giovanni Battista Contini, was completed by 1707, and Solimena's picture was in situ by 1714, according to a letter dated 6 July that year (F. Haskell, ibid.) The picture, which Haskell describes as 'the masterpiece of the whole series', and, 'a picture of the utmost romantic splendour', was an immediate success, prompting Giovanni Gioseffo dal Sole and Marcantonio Franceschini to rush to Macerata to see it.

There has been some disagreement as to whether the present picture is a modello or ricordo of the Bonaccorsi painting. Another smaller version of the compostion is in the Castle of Opocno, Czech Republic, which both Ferrari, loc. cit., and Spinosa, loc. cit., believe to be the modello. Levey was the first to connect the present picture with the Bonaccorsi composition. He dated it circa 1739-40, and believed it to be a ricordo painted towards the end of the artist's life.

A preparatory drawing for the compostion will be offered in the Old Master Drawings sale in London on 4 July 1995. Bologna, loc. cit., mentions another related drawing in a collection at Aversa.