Judging from a photograph, Professor Spinosa described the present picture in 1978 as a studio work based on a lost prototype recorded by many school versions and later copies. Having seen the picture itself, he revised his opinion and in 1984 included the painting in a short list of pictures doubted in 1978 which he now considers autograph.
Similarities in handling with the 'Prophets' in the Church of the Certosa di San Martino, Naples, suggest a dating in the late 1630s