Philip Pouncey was the first to advance an attribution to Valerio Castello. He pointed out the similarity between this and an equally Parmigianinesque Adoration of the Shepherds at Christ Church, attributed by Popham to Vincenzo Caccianemici but identified by Newcome as a study for an etching by Castello (M. Newcome, op. cit., 1981, fig. 1), J. Byam Shaw, Drawings by Old Masters at Christ Church, Oxford, Oxford, 1976, no. 1102, pl. 652. Mary Newcome published other drawings from Castello's period in Parma when his drawing reflected the influence of Parmigianino, M. Newcome, op. cit., 1981, figs. 4-9