The earliest documentary reference to this painting appears in the 1772 inventory of the Palace of the Buen Retiro, in which the setting is attributed to Viviano Codazzi (1603/4-1672) and the figures to Aniello Falcone (1607-1656). However, this architectural view has traditionally been considered part of the set of landscapes -with hermits and bucolic scenes- commissioned in Rome to decorate the Buen Retiro and listed in the 1701 inventory of the Palace. Moreover, since the publication of Barghahn`s text (1986), it has been assumed to be the painting referred to in the entry that precedes these landscapes: A Perspective two and a half varas high and seven spans wide of the Church of St Peter`s in Rome, executed in Rome, with carved and gilt frame appraised at sixty doubloons... 3,600, an identification that is by all accounts mistaken. This entry should be identified with the picture Interior of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, an original work by Filippo Gagliardi (d. 1659), signed and dated 1640 in Rome. What is more, The Aldobrandini Garden at Frascati cannot be identified as any of Codazzi`s four architectural views recorded in the 1701 inventory -or indeed as any other listed in that document.

The Aldobrandini Garden at Frascati entered the Museum as an original by Jan Both. This attribution is maintained in later catalogues, although the figures are ascribed to Jan Miel (1599-1664) until the publication of the 1966 edition, where they are attributed to Andries Both (ca. 1612-1642). Valdivieso (1973), Salerno (1977-78), Barghahn (1986) and Capitelli (2005) follow the ascriptions established in the early catalogues. However, Waddingham (1964) and Burke (1976) support the attribution of the setting to Viviano Codazzi and the figures to Andries Both. Burke (1976) links them to those of the Galleria Pallavicini in Rome (Text drawn from Posada Kubissa, T.: Pintura holandesa en el Museo Nacional del Prado. Catálogo razonado, 2009, p. 322).