The painting is first mentioned in a 1749 inventory at La Granja, and was transferred to its current location by 1857.

[2] There has been some debate as to whether the painting is actually by Gentileschi, despite her signature appearing across the edge of the table.

One scholar pointed to the use of bright red, blue and green in the painting, which Gentileschi does not use elsewhere.

However, the 2001 catalogue for the exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, suggests the painting is by Gentileschi, and that it draws heavily on early devotional pictures by the artist Guido Reni.

[1] The stylistic shift may represent a deliberate tactic to appeal to the taste of the patron.