Niño de Guevara was a pupil of Cano in Madrid in 1645-8. From 1652 he was in Granada, and he was also active in Malaga where he painted the altarpiece in the Cathedral.

Dr. Priscilla Müller points out that there is a drawing by an anonymous follower of Cano of the Virgin and Child at Barcelona, which is similar to the lower register of the present drawing. This might suggest that there is a lost prototype of this composition by Cano