The superb work of late Renaissance Italian sculpture was funded by a Polish colony of humanists residing in Padua in the 16th century, and the poetic dedicatory text was written by Jan Kochanowski. Unfortunately, the original imposing statue of the Castellan of Gniezno was disassembled at the end of the 19th century during work on the regothicisation of the basilica's chapels. All that remained of it was the bust, while architectural elements were reassembled in the cloisters at the church.

Erazm Kretkowski is commemorated in one of the chapels of the Paduan sanctuary (originally called St Bartholomew), where he was buried in 1558. The royal official died in Padua at the age of 50, during a long journey through several countries. The monument, commissioned by the castellan's relatives, was realised on site by his friend Jerzy Rokitnicki. The work was completed in 1560. In addition to the funds left by Kretkowski himself, the participation of Polish humanists and students of the University of Padua is likely. During his third stay in Padua, the text of the epitaph was drawn up by Kochanowski, extolling in it the virtues and dignities of the castellan and the lands through which he had travelled. From the time of its erection, the monument was mentioned and praised in many Italian and Polish publications (e.g. by Szymon Starowolski in 1655, Józef I. Kraszewski in 1858). The architectural setting of the tombstone measured about 530 cm in height, the portrait of the deceased was at a height of about 350 cm; the present perception of it is therefore falsified not only by the altered background, but also by the much lower placement. The sculpture depicts a bearded man in ornate, antique-style parade armour. The bust has been attributed to several prominent Italian sculptors, Danese Cataneo, Francesco Segali, Alessandro Vittoria; all of these attributions are quite plausible, but none has yet been confirmed. The present form of the monument was probably designed by Professor Camillo Boito, the architect responsible for transforming the basilica at the end of the nineteenth century. Probably in 1899 work was completed on the chapel, decorating it with paintings and placing various Polish plaques and sculptures.

The bust underwent conservation in 2018 with funding from the National Institute of Polonica.