The present work represents an important discovery by one of the greatest masters of the Roman Baroque, Carlo Maratta. There are at least three other known autograph versions of this subject: a canvas in the Bob Jones University Collection, North Carolina (57.5 x 120.6 cm), another sold at Christie’s New York on 26 May 2000 (lot 59, 120 x 160 cm, sold for $281,000), and a copper panel in a vertical format in the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, Palazzo Corsini (52 x 37.7 cm).

The relevance of this painting lies in its relationship to the other versions, which, although they share the same central group, differ in the arrangement of the surrounding figures.

At the Kunstmuseum, Düsseldorf, there is a set of ten autograph and contemporary preparatory drawings, including studies of figures and drapery, believed to be preparatory for this composition. Notably, on the verso of drawing no. 193, there are preparatory sketches for Maratta’s Adoration of the Magi altarpiece in the Basilica of San Marco in Rome, dated circa 1655. Thus, it is likely that both this group of drawings and paintings also date to around 1655, during the brief period when Maratta achieved the distinctive style of his early maturity. The influence of his master, Andrea Sacchi, is still discernible here, with the central group of figures borrowing from Sacchi’s painting of the same subject (1633-34) in the sacristy of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Yet Maratta’s style had clearly evolved beyond that of his mentor: Sacchi’s softer handling and restrained composition give way to Maratta’s more Baroque treatment of drapery and a heightened sense of narrative dynamism.