The man plays a lute. The owl on the window ledge may be a reference to sinfulness.

This painting has been generally accepted as a work of David Teniers the Younger, but it displays weaknesses of handling. It is painted in the style of the mid-1630s and may be a copy of a lost original.

The initials F/DB on the reverse of the panel may be those of the panel-maker François de Bout who became a master in the Antwerp guild of Saint Luke in 1637-8.