The Monogrammist GAE active in northern Italy during the 17th century

Possibly Spinola Palace, Genoa (according to a label on the reverse).

We are grateful to Dr. David Marshall for proposing the attribution to the Monogrammist GAE on the basis of photographs.  The present painting may be compared with a signed work by the artist of the same subject (see Dr. D.R. Marshall, "Giovanni Ghisolfi or the 'Monogrammist GAE' at Stourhead", in Burlington Magazine, vol. CXXXVIII, no. 1123, October 1996, p. 689, reproduced fig. 71).  For further comment on the Monogrammist GAE and his oeuvre see the above mentioned article pp. 685-690.