it is recorded in the 1587 handwritten inventory of ranuccio i farnese's collection in parma - “a portrait [sic] of the madonna in gypsy costume by the hand of correggio, in a walnut frame and with a green cendale curtain. the first printed reference to it is in the 1625 "musaeum" by federico borromeo, archbishop of milan - "work by correggio and also another painting, popularly known as 'la zingara'. it was also copied by one of the carracci brothers and we saw the original in parma so damaged and ruined that we suspected it would soon disappear. the rest of the beauty of the work was undermined by the same artist by violating the laws of decorum, attributing to an egyptian thief the figure of the virgin". a 1935 restoration did further damage to the original.