Professor Wayne Franits will include the painting in the forthcoming catalogue raisonne that he and a group of his colleagues are preparing on the artist.

Born in Amersfoort near Utrecht, Stomer infused his work with the dramatic shadows and bright colors popular among Utrecht Caravaggisti such as Dirck van Baburen and Gerrit van Honthorst, in whose studio Stomer may have trained. Like these artists, Stomer went to Italy , he was living in Rome by 1630, where he absorbed firsthand the work of Caravaggio. The present painting reveals his dedication to Caravaggesque themes: the light emanating from a single candle produces a dramatic juxtaposition of light and shadow.
Over the course of his career, Stomer lived in various locales in Italy, moving to Naples shortly after 1633 and around 1640 traveling to Sicily.