In a letter of 24 February 1991, Professor Dwight Miller says that he believes the present picture to have been executed in the studio of Carlo Cignani c.1676 when Franceschini was working there as a young assistant. While he sees the composition as the work of Cignani, he believes that it was executed largely if not wholly by Franceschini and compares it with the 'Charity' recently with Patrick Matthiesen (exhibited New York, Newhouse Galleries, Paintings from Emilia 1500-1700, 11 March - 16 April 1987, no.32 and colour pl.31) painted perhaps two or three years later. Cignani himself later developed the composition (in reverse) in his fresco in the Palazzo del Giardino, Parma (A. Cera, La pittura emiliana del '600, 1982, Cignani pl.6). While Cignani's cartoon is at Hampton Court (M. Levey, The Later Italian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, 1964, p.74, no.451, and pl.45), Professor Miller considers the mural largely the work of Franceschini and Quaini. Professor Miller intends to publish the present painting in his forthcoming monograph on Franceschini; his assistance with the present catalogue entry is gratefully acknowledged