This painting is believed to be the work of Giovanni Martinelli, a Florentine artist who has largely been ignored by contemporary art historians. The rich texture of the paint and the sumptuous costume recall some of Martinelli’s known works. The subject of the music maker is common in seventeenth-century Florentine painting; the inclusion of a mysterious figure in the background, however, is unusual and adds an enigmatic quality that suggests a further allegorical meaning.