An Italian micromosaic panel after Il Sassoferrato, mid-19th century

Giovanni Battista Salvi or better known as Il Sassoferrato (1609-1685) painted three versions of this subject. One is in the Musée Condé, Chantilly (inv. no. PE77), a second is in the museum at Sanssouci, Postdam (illustrated in S. Nethersole, and H. Howard, “Perugino, Sassoferrato and a ‘beautiful Little Work’ in the National Gallery, London.” The Burlington Magazine, vol. 152, no. 1287, 2010, p.384). The third composition of which the present work is a variant, is in the Palazzo Doria Pamphili, Rome. A pencil study by Il Sassoferrato of the sleeping Christ is in the Royal Collections (inv. no. RCIN 906052).