Spanish Royal Collection, Palacio Nuevo, Madrid, by 1772 until at least 1794.[1] Private collection, France, until 1970.[2] (P & D Colnaghi & Co., London, 1971). (sale, Sotheby's, London, 8 July 1981, no. 92). (Julius H. Weitzner [1896-1986], London), by 1983; purchased 1984 by NGA. [1] Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez, _Pintura italiana del s. XVII en España_, Madrid, 1965: 224, citing inventories of 1772 and 1794: "otro en lámina, del Martirio de Santa Margarita, de vara de largo y tres cuartos de ancho, original de Joseph Arpinas." The dimensions correspond exactly and it would seem logical that an inventory-taker might confuse copper and panel. A painting identified as "el martirio de una Santa" by the Cavaliere d'Arpino was listed with the same dimensions but no record of support in the royal inventory of 1789-1790: _Inventarios reales: Carlos III_, transcribed by Fernando Fernandez-Miranda y Lozana, Madrid, 1988: 19, no. 73. It has not been identified in the inventories of Charles II: _Testamentaria del Rey Carlos II 1701-1703_, edited by Gloria Fernández Bayton, 3 vols., Madrid, 1975-1985. The painting was also seen by visitors to the Royal Collections: Antonio Ponz, _Viaje en España_, edited by C. M. del Rivero, Madrid, 1947 (first edition Madrid 1772-1794): 6:526; Richard Cumberland, _An Accurate and Descriptive Catalogue of the Several Paintings in the King of Spain's Palace at Madrid_, London, 1777, 51; Antonio Conca y Alvarez, _Descrizione odeporica della Spagna_, Parma, 1793: 116. [2] According to Herwarth Röttgen, _Cavalier d'Arpino_, exh. cat. Palazzo Venezia, Rome, 1973: 126.