The execution of this grotesque picture is probably due to Girolamo da Carpi, or some other assistant of Dosso.
Crowe and Cavalcaselle, ii. 292, unaccountably suggested Francesco Vecellio (!) as the author.
The subject is derived from a passage in the De Divinitate of Cicero, as Herr Wickhoff has pointed out.
See Venetian Painting at the New Gallery. 1895.