Baroness Burdett-Coutts, the heiress and philanthropist, who was also president of the ladies' committee of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), originally commissioned this altarpiece. When she decided she no longer wished to have it, Queen Victoria took over the commission. The Queen had admired the painting, ‘so beautiful and novel’, when it was in its early stages, on a visit to Landseer’s house.

Landseer is said to have worked on the picture while he was staying with the Duke and Duchess of Abercorn and to have asked for the use of two sheep from the farm, which the housekeeper refused to allow inside the house.

The doves symbolise the Holy Spirit and the Trinity and the lambs probably represent Christians redeemed by baptism, although the precise meaning of the allegory is not clear. Pentimenti suggest that Landseer made changes to the uppermost dove and to the head of the dark lamb, which may have originally been whiter. On the three visible panels of the baptismal font are reliefs of the head of Christ, crowned with thorns and flanked by kneeling angels.

The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1872.