This picture probably decorated a chapel in a church or a hall in a monastery somewhere in Milan or its immediate environs. Contextually it is based on the Gospels: Christ is washing the feet of the apostles while in the background the table is being set for the Last Supper.

The types of the figures and the composition are characteristic of the mature Seicento in Lombardy, while some details, and in particular the figure of Christ, could be connected with the painter Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli, called il Morazzone. The attribution to Giovanni Stefano Danedi, called il Montalto, was suggested by Marco Bona Castellotti in a conversation in 1992 and it was confirmed by comparisons with works which are unquestionably by Danedi. It was painted at the time of the artist’s maturity.