In a letter dated July 5, 1981, Dr. Stella Rudolph confirmed the attribution, on the basis of a photograph, and suggested a date of circa 1652, just after Maratta's first Roman altarpiece, the 1650-1 'Adoration of the Shepherds' in San Giuseppe dei Falegnami, and at the same time that he was beginning his first major chapel decoration, the cycle in the Alaleona Chapel in Sant'Isidoro Agricola. Works of this period, immediately after Maratta had re-settled in Rome to embark upon an independant career after a two year absence in the Marche, are rare. As is to be expected, there are strong reminiscences in the present picture of his master Andrea Sacchi