Genoese School, 17th Century

Anonymous sale ('The Property of a European Collector'), London, Sotheby's, 9 July 2009, lot 149 (as North Italian School, probably Lombardy, 17th century).

It has been suggested by Tiziana Zennaro that the present painting is by the Genoese artist Giuseppe Assereto, son of Gioacchino Assereto (1600–1650). Zennaro, author of the catalogue raisonné of works by Gioacchino and his studio, remarks on the dark outline and impressionistic brushstrokes as typical of Giuseppe's style, and compares the figures in this painting to others in the artist's œuvre, such as the angel in Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy in the church of the Cappuccini in Voltaggio.