For a long time this Pietà was attributed to Juan de Juni as it was thought that Spanish art best expressed the profound feelings of this theme; a theme much divulged since the Middle Ages. It now seems evident that the pietà fits perfectly into the trajectory of the Benedictine master Frei Cipriano da Cruz, showing many stylistic similarities with the rest of his wood statuary. This piece, and the following one, originate from the church of the Colégio de S. Bento in Coimbra.