This painting is one of a large number of scenes showing collectors and visitors in real or largely imaginary settings that were produced in Flanders in the 17th century. This example was probably painted in 1620. It may well be the work of two painters, one responsible for the figures and the other for the interior, which is probably largely imaginary but shows real objects owned by the collector.
The large print on the table is 'Ceres mocked by Peasants' by Goudt after Elsheimer; in the open folio are prints by Dürer and Lucas van Leyden. The paintings on the wall are almost all by Antwerp artists of the 16th and 17th centuries and include works in the style of Joachim Beuckelaer, Joos de Momper, Jan Brueghel the Elder and Frans Francken.
