It has traditionally been attributed to Adriaen van Stalbemt, but more recently some art historians have re-attributed the work to Hieronymus Francken the Younger.

The earliest works in this genre depicted art objects together with other items such as scientific instruments or peculiar natural specimens.

Frans Francken the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Elder started the genre by creating paintings of art and curiosity collections in the 1620s.

This includes the composition The Sciences and the Arts discussed here and its reduced replica of the lower right hand corner called The Geographer and the Naturalist (also in the Prado).

Most art historians now appear to agree that these works should be attributed to Hieronymus Francken II as van Stalbemt's figures differ from those in these gallery paintings.