This finely executed copper is a newly discovered work by Antonio De Bellis, one of the leading Neapolitan artists of the seventeenth century. It can be compared to a canvas by De Bellis showing the same subject in the Museo Diocesano Donnaregina in Naples, which dates to the mid-1640s, an altarpiece made originally for the church of Santa Maria di Portosalvo. This subject was popular in Naples in the seventeenth century, with Battistello Caracciolo, Massimo Stanzione and Luca Giordano all making versions of the composition.
We are grateful to Prof. Riccardo Lattuada for confirming the attribution on the basis of photographs.