This
small monochrome canvas is traditionally considered to be a sketch or first
draft for the altarpiece with the "Martyrdom of Saint Agnes",
commissioned in 1590 for Milan cathedral and completed in 1592 (now in the
Borromeo collection) which was the first important public work in Milan by
Camillo Procaccini. The
finished nature of the small monochrome painting, however, suggests an
independent work, destined for a private collection - a hypothesis supported
by the fact that two other versions of the same painting are known.