Barbara, Duchess of Saxony (1478-1534) was the daughter of Casimir IV, King of Poland and Elisabeth of Austria. In 1496 she married George, Duke of Saxony (1471-1539), whose portrait was also painted by Cranach. Both appear as donors on two panels from an altarpiece in the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection (see M.J. Friedländer and J. Rosenberg op. cit., 1978, no. 28, p. 74), probably dating from around 1508-10. The portrait of the Duchess in this work formed the basis of later depictions including the present work, which was executed by the workshop most probably after her death.

Their period of rule over Saxony came to be dominated by the dramatic events of the Reformation, and in the ensuing religious upheavel the Duke emerged as a staunch defender of the Catholic Church. His desire to see a Catholic heir succeed him as Duke was undermined by the early death of most of his children, and the marriage of his third daughter, Christine, to Philip of Hesse, a leading supporter of Luther.