Oil on lapis lazuli on slate, rectangular, in a veneered wood frame, signed on the reverse, 11.3cm by 10.3cm.
The 1688 Burghley Inventory records: ‘My Ladyes Clossett, Pictures…..4 little pictures painted upon lapis lazoli in Ebbony frames by–‘.
The artist (c1609/10- c1675), worked mainly in Naples and was known in particular for his landscapes, genre scenes and history paintings. The miniature, with its three companions (MINs0071, 0072, and 0074), would have been purchased by the 5th Earl and Countess of Exeter on one of their early Grand Tours. The Countess, in particular, liked small religious paintings which she assembled in her private apartments.
