Peter Schatborn has compared the style and character of this drawing to a sheet attributed to Barent Fabritius showing The Beheading of Saint John the Baptistin the Musée Pincé at Angers and has suggested that both drawings are by the same hand (see W. Sumowski, Drawings of the Rembrandt School, New York, 1985, IV, no. 833, ill.).
We are grateful to Peter Schatborn and Martin Royalton-Kisch for their assistance in cataloguing this drawing and for suggesting the attribution to Barent Fabritius.