The large canvas was made for the Chapter Hall of the Scuola Grande di San Marco by April 1548, when it is mentioned in a letter of praise sent to the painter by Pietro Aretino, a famous scholar of the time. Seized by French troops in 1797, the canvas returned to Venice in 1815 and was destined for the Gallerie dell'Accademia due to the suppression of the schools of devotion ordered by Napoleon.

The work represents one of the posthumous miracles of Saint Mark accredited by hagiographic sources, that is, Saint Mark frees the slave from the torture of torture. This is the torture inflicted by a lord of Provence, represented on the right seated on another throne, on a servant, immobilized on the ground, guilty of disobeying his master and having gone on a pilgrimage to Venice to visit the body of the Evangelist, vowing to entrust his members to the protection of these. The miraculous apparition of the saint, invoked by the slave, causes the breaking of the instruments of martyrdom, leaving the lord, the executioners and the crowd of bystanders astonished. The Miracle sanctions Tintoretto's public affirmation in the Venetian context and represents the moment in which the various experiences of his youth come to full maturity, giving life to a provocatively innovative language. The theatrical character, in the monumental scenographic layout and in the skilful direction of the masses, betrays the painter's familiarity with the environments of the Venetian theater, opening a new season for the tradition of narrative canvases commissioned by the Schools.