Circle of Simon Vouet

The composition is a rectangular version of Vouet's Roman Charity now in the Musée Bonnat-Helleu in Bayonne.¹ In the Bayonne picture, which can be dated to circa 1626, the figures are set into a wider painted circle, with more negative space above and surrounding them.  

It has been suggested that the present version could have been painted by Virginia da Vezzo (1600-1638), Vouet's wife and a painter in her own right. Vezzo was an accomplished artist living in Rome and member of the Academia di San Luca when she met Simon Vouet, who lived in the same neighborhood; they married in 1626 and the following year moved to Paris when Vouet became the Premier Peintre de Roi. 

1. Oil on canvas, inv. no. CM 169, see https://webmuseo.com/ws/musee-bonnat-helleu/app/collection/record/252