The artist's comparable picture of the same subject in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, differs slightly in composition (P.J.J. van Thiel a.o., Alle Schilderijen van het Rijksmuseum te Amsterdam, Amsterdam/Haarlem, 1976, p. 430, no. A298, illustrated). Another comparable picture of an artist in his studio in the Gemäldegalerie, Dresden, signed and dated 1663 (Gemäldegalerie Alter Meister, Dresden, 1982, no. 1397) shows more differences. As Slatkes suggests (Pelletier a.o., op.cit., p. 172), the latter may be related to the artist's election as Dean of the Haarlem Guild of Saint Luke in 1662. A drawing of the same subject representing the print in its first state, in the same sense as the print, was sold in these Rooms, 26 November 1984, lot 39, illustrated. The exact use of the drawing is difficult to determine because it is on oiled paper and not in perfect condition, though it shows traces of incising for transfer (now in a Private Collection, USA). Ostade's drawing of an artist's studio in the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin (Schnackenburg, op.cit., no. 40) may also be compared for the subject and the interior.
The Latin text from an unidentified source, which was added onto the plate in the fifth state, may be translated as follows: 'Though you a painter, paint a painting with Apelles' art which now fools painters, and now the birds, yet gnawing envy, unless fortune bless you, will take away the prizes worthy of your talents.' (as translated by O. Phillips in L. Stone-Ferrier, Dutch Prints of Daily Life: Mirrors of Life or Masks of Morals ?, Lawrence, Kansas, 1983, p. 44). Schnackenburg dates this plate to circa 1660-70, Slatkes to circa 1669.