This work might be the Orpheus owned by Brueghel's key patron, Francesco Maria del Monte, listed in his inventory as a "Fable of Eurydice"; while there are several other versions of the same subject also by Jan, the present work was already in Florence in 1704, and the Brueghels from major 16th-century Italian collections have tended to stay in Italy. The two other versions are: an exact copy of the same size, on copper, that was sold in London (Christies, April 22 1988 #53, signed and illegibly dated) and a more interesting variant also of the same size on copper that was sold in Paris (Robert Lebel, 1977), signed and dated 1594. Although the latter is not in Ertz 2008-10, it is probably autograph. These four interconnected works of 1594 suggest that by this time Jan had a market for his works in Rome that extended beyond his major patrons.

The present work is apparently not in very good condition, with some surface abrasion.