In 2023, Ineke Mok and Dineke Stam argued that the family portrayed is that of Jacob Ruychaver (ca.

Their daughter Geertruid (1633-1710) and son Willem (1634-1673) fit the age of the children displayed on the painting.

It was common for former directors-general of the Gold Coast to commission a painting with an African servant (compare Ruychaver's successor Jan Valckenburgh).

To the right, beside the woman but farther back, stands a little boy; he wears a dark-brown costume with a white collar, and looks at the spectator.

[3] It was purchased in 1910 by outbidding J.P. Morgan for $500,000 by Otto Hermann Kahn who subsequently lent it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

[5] Her colored underskirt and the flat collars instead of the more common millstone style show them to be wealthy burghers who could afford the latest fashion.

[7] In April 2017 the painting became the subject of a TED talk by Titus Kaphar, who chose to copy the painting in order to act out a bold statement about how Black people are portrayed in cultural heritage objects, including centuries-old European artworks such as this one.

The number of Black people in 17th-century Haarlem is virtually unknown but is assumed to be close to zero, considering the difficulties artists had portraying them, according to a popular lecture in 1770 about Facial Angles by Petrus Camper.