Art historians argue that the work may be attributed to the period in which Parmigianino was painting his first works in the church of San Giovanni Evangelista, as also emerges from a recent restoration, which has shown that its technique is near-identical to that of Parmigianino - "no underdrawing, pigment use, descriptive speed, drafting of final shadows, using fingers (may fingerprints have been traced) and brush-ends as tools".