The work takes its name from a convent in Monforte de Lemos, in northern Spain, where it is presumed (from the dates of copies made in Flanders) to have arrived in the early 16th century; before that its history is unknown.
Among other works clearly influenced by the painting is the Adoration of the Kings by Jan Gossaert (1510-15) in the London National Gallery, which uses some of the figures and broad elements of the composition.