"C. Debie" has not been identified. The Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon, Munich and Leipzig 1992-, states that Cornelis de Bie was a painter who lived in Amsterdam from 1621/1622 to 1664, and that he was the author of Het gulden cabinet. However, the article on the author of Het gulden cabinet in the Dictionary of art gives quite different information, stating that he was a notary who practised in Lier near Antwerp and that he lived from 1627 to ca. 1711/1715. The Amsterdam painter is documented as the master of J.H. Roos in or after 1647 (Burlington Magazine, November 2000, vol. 142, p. 706). His signature as shown in W. Bernt, Die Niederländischen Maler, vol. 1, Munich 1960, differs from that in the present painting. The painting may therefore be by one or neither of these "C. de Bie"s
