The painting was commissioned by shipowner Giorgio Dragan for the altar in the church of Santa Maria della Carità in Venice and became state property when the church itself was incorporated into the Gallerie dell’Accademia. The work is from Cima da Conegliano’s late period, between the late 1490s and early 1500s, and shares much with Giovanni Bellini’s highest pictorial style, so much so that it was mistakenly attributed to him in many older documented sources. It is also a meditation on contemporary Venetian sculpture (Tullio Lombardo) and the work of a young innovative artist such as Antonello da Messina in his San Cassiano altarpiece, as is also evidenced in its rendering of a complex architectural space which provides an airy and spacious setting for the figures. The figure of Saint George in his armour has been accepted as a magnetic portrait of the client.