This portrait and the Self-portrait in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, in Rotterdam, are the only works that have survived from the short period between his collaboration with Rembrandt in Amsterdam and his departure to Delft.

17th-century documents show that at this time he also carried out assignments for wealthy Amsterdam families who had country houses in the Beemster.

For example, he and his wife Sara Sauchelle acted as godparents at the baptism of Carel's younger brother Johannes Fabritius.

Although he remains faithful to his master in his loose painting technique through which the underlayer shines, he exchanges the dramatic light-dark contrasts of his early history paintings for a clear, naturalistic lighting full of refined color nuances.

This may be related to his growing interest in the trompe-l'oeil, of which the painted nail at the top right of the whitewashed wall is the earliest known example in Fabritius's work.