This is a good example of music appearing in Dutch art with apparently no connection with seduction. This appears to be a model family group in a neat interior with a carefully-tended garden seen through the door in the background. The music would seem to be expressing their harmonious relationship and perhaps some idea that the generations succeed each other in a measured sequence (we see obviously the three ages of man in the three male figures around the table). The man in the background is believed to be a self-portrait. The Dutch called this type of depiction of a prosperous family group, whether real of imaginary, a 'conversatie'. This is where the English get the idea of the 'Conversation Piece', which is such a feature of eighteenth-century art. The music is here inscribed 'HET CORN CORNELIUS', perhaps referring to a composer. This is one of an important group of works within the collection created by Gerrit Dou or his pupils (or his pupils’ pupils), artists sometimes referred to as the ‘Leiden Fine-Painters’ ‘Fijnschilders’. Signed lower left: 'G. Schalcken / fecit'