The first two states of this plate showed the date 1648 next to the signature. In later states that date was erased, possibly because it was reworked by Ostade at a later date. This may be compared to the closely related picture, in the same sense, signed and also dated 1648, in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (P.J.J. van Thiel a.o., Alle Schilderijen van het Rijksmuseum te Amsterdam, Amsterdam/Haarlem, 1976, p. 429, no. A300, illustrated). In the fourth state Ostade added the figures at the right, which do not feature in the picture. Schnackenburg mentions two related copies, one by Cornelis Dusart and another probably based on Ostade's original preliminary study (Schnackenburg, op.cit., no. 54 and p. 91). The subject of a quack was also treated by artists like Dou, Steen and Rembrandt, for instance in the latter's etching of 1635, B.129.