There seems to have been no dispute about the authorship of this painting, which is discussed thoroughly by Professor Peter Humfrey in his monograph on Cima. As Humfrey suggests, the panel may be ‘identical with a Resurrection panel sold by a descendant of the Cima family, Niccolò Fabris of Conegliano, to a gentleman from Udine in 1818’. If this is correct, it may be that Cima made the painting for himself or a family member. 

As all scholars have agreed, it appears to be a predella panel but it is unusually small and, since no complementary panels by Cima have been identified, it may not have been part of a more extensive predella but have been placed below a small representation of Christ, made for private devotion. Alternatively, it might have formed part of some piece of ecclesiastical furnishing, perhaps accompanied by other scenes from the Passion in different formats; but this can be no more than conjecture. Several small religious and secular scenes are known by Cima, who seems to have made a practice of working on a miniature scale.

Humfrey does not discuss the panel’s date but from its position in his book, one would infer c.1500, which is also that suggested by Coletti. However, Menegazzi dates it a little later and its atmospheric qualities suggest also to the present writer a slightly later date, perhaps with some influence from the soft style being practised by Cima’s juniors.