The above lot was first identified and published by Dr. Julius Held (loc. cit.) as a work by Artus Wolffort. The series of Apostles to which the painting belongs had previously been published by Hans Vlieghe (Zwischen van Veen und Rubens: Artus Wolffort (1581-1641) ein vergessener Antwerpener Maler, Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch, 1977, vol. XXXIX, pp.?), although he did not know of the existance of the above lot at that time. Other works in this series include a Saint Matthew (private collection, Brussels); Saint Simon (location unknown); and Saint Andrew (ex-Kimbell Art Foundation, Fort Worth, TX; now in a private collection).

In all of the apostle paintings a trompe l'oeil stone cartouche appears at the bottom edge of the composition. On this appears an inscription with the article of the Creed usually associated with that apostle, as well as a roman numeral indicating the apostle's usual place in the sequence. These paintings may be compared with Hendrick Goltzius's series of prints of circa 1589 where the sequence and articles are identical.

Wolffort's Antwerp activity begins circa 1616, and Vlieghe dates the series to this time. Alternatively Held suggests a date of circa 1620-25. His basis for this date is due largely to unfinished male portrait visible through x-ray under the Saint Andrew painting (Held, op. cit., illus. fig. 3).