Another circular portrait with a laughing boy is in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and shows a soap bubble on the right.

Several other circular portraits of laughing boys, all painted around the same period, with or without a bubble or a whistle, have been attributed to Hals in the past.

Of the twenty or so paintings identified in 1974 by the Hals expert Seymour Slive, he considered only three to be authentic.

The Hals expert Claus Grimm rejected the other two and claims only this one is authentic.

In the late 19th century young artists in the impressionist movement were impressed by the loose brush strokes and wet-in-wet painting technique of these small tondos, and it is possible that a few of the many copies on the art market today date from this later period.