J. A. Welu records in the catalogue of the exhibition, The Collector's Cabinet, 1983, that Janssens executed two further versions of this composition, one of which was offered in these rooms, May 31, 1990, lot 104. The second was included in a sale at Dorotheum, Vienna, Dec. 3, 1974, lot 77.

The subject, which documents some of the Netherlandish traditions related to birthgiving, shows a dry nurse, baker, seated before a fire in a wicker basket seat, bakermat, the front of which is lower and extends forward to contain the whole figure. Although the bakermat is now obsolete, the word still survives in Dutch and Flemish as the synonym for birthplace. For a discussion of the bakermat, see A. Knopper, In de kraam Wternswaardigheden over oud-nederlandse kraamgebrjkken, 1975, pp. 14-15.