In the 1620s Flemish painter Adriaen Brouwer lived for a while in Haarlem and Amsterdam and most likely studied with Frans Hals. There he met Adriaen van Ostade, another Frans Hals pupil and these 2 artists influenced one another – see our A laughing man by Van Ostade. For many years, art historians overlooked this painting: This can probably be explained by the fact that it was for a long time in rather inaccessible private collections.