Many figures and animals in this work derive from drawings by Rubens; see Ertz on this. They are used in a 1620 paiting by Rubens in Munich and one in Berlin, and the cows relate to a Rubens painting now in the British royal collection, but there are also drawings by Rubens for those figures (& cows).

The present work is one of Jan Brueghel's largest, along with the Dijon View of Mariemont (which is itself a sort of expanded version of a small, detailed work from 1612).

The 1636 inventory records this as follows: "Otro lienzo del tamaño y moldura de los de la boda, habría dudas en que está demostrada la forma de hacer manteca, cámo se ordeñan las vacas y se hace la manteca en Flandres.” Archivo de Palacio, Madrid, leg. 768, fs. 33-35