The carefully rendered textures and the metallic reflection of her white dress and red jacket are characteristic of Ter Borch's method.

However, several other stylistic aspects in this work are not, such as the remarkably brightly lit room, the figure placed in the background, depicted in a loose brush, and the use of broad brushstrokes elsewhere.

This apparent break in the artist style is largely due to two radical changes that the painting suffered since its creation.

This is apparent in the X-ray examinations and can also be established on the basis of a faithful copy that the painter probably himself made, which now hangs in the Stedelijk Museum, in Zwolle, with the title Couple Making Music.

A second change took place in 1893, when the Berlin professor Hauser radically restored the work, who was then in a poor condition, greatly enhancing the colours.