[5] The painting was then sold or given to the politician Evaristo Pérez de Castro during the French invasion of Spain in the Peninsular War; it remained in his family's collection in Madrid.

The Spanish government then halted the auction after being notified by art experts of the possibility that the painting was the work of Caravaggio.

[8] The artwork has been identified as his due to details such as brush strokes,[9] the painting's size, and its similarity to other works by Caravaggio.

[7] Maria Cristina Terzaghi, an art history professor at Roma Tre University, cited Christ's head and torso and the "three-dimensional nature of the three figures" in the painting as evidence for Caravaggio's authorship.

[7] In the journal Finestre sull'Arte, Camillo Mazitti opined that the artwork was "lacking in Caravaggio's dramatic vigour.