Abraham Bredius. Letter. n.d., rejects the attribution to Jan Steen; believes it could be by Jacob van Nieulandt or Adriaen van Nieulandt, and dates it about 1620.
Evening Post (April 25, 1906) [reprinted in Ref. Sutton 1972, vol. 1, p. 26], calls it "a Jan Steen of exceptional beauty and importance".
Roger Fry. Letter to Helen Fry. February 18, 1906 [published in Ref. Sutton 1972, vol. 1, p. 251], as by Jan Steen.
"Art Museum Notes." Academy Notes 1 (May 1906), p. 210, calls it a "stupid big Jan Steen".
Bryson Burroughs. Catalogue of Paintings. 1st ed. New York, 1914, p. 198, as by Adriaen van Nieulandt, formerly attributed to Jan Steen.
Millia Davenport. The Book of Costume. New York, 1948, vol. 2, pp. 609–10, no. 1604, ill. (cropped).
Letters of Roger Fry. New York, 1972, vol. 1, pp. 26, 251 n. 4 to letter 173 (February 18, 1906), p. 255 n. 1 to letter 177 (March 2, 1906), p. 265 n. 1 to letter 191 (June 16, 1906), as by Jan Steen.
Hella Robels. Letter to Eric Zafran. October 14, 1974, believes it to be by a Dutch painter.
Keith P. F. Moxey. Letter to Walter Liedtke. October 15, 1980, suggests an attribution to Joachim Wtewael and discusses the erotic symbolism.
Pieter J. J. van Thiel. Letter to Walter Liedtke. August 20, 1980, observes similarities to the work of Joachim Wtewael from the late 1620s.
Anne W. Lowenthal. Joachim Wtewael and Dutch Mannerism. Doornspijk, The Netherlands, 1986, p. 178, no. D–10, pl. 171, colorpl. XXV, ascribes it to Peter Wtewael and dates it about 1625–28, calling "the hearty figures, a preference for convex forms, and the robust naturalism" typical of his style; finds these and other elements in the signed "Adoration of the Shepherds" (Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne) and the "Caritas" (private collection, Denmark).
Donna R. Barnes and Peter G. Rose. Matters of Taste: Food and Drink in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art and Life. Exh. cat., Albany Institute of History & Art. Albany, 2002, p. 26, 148–49, no. 60, ill. (color), attribute it to Peter Wtewael; discuss the "sexual allusions" and the foods depicted.
Walter Liedtke. Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, vol. 1, pp. x, 444; vol. 2, pp. 988–91, no. 225, colorpl. 225, fig. 283 (detail), dates it to the 1620s.
Walter Liedtke. "The Milkmaid" by Johannes Vermeer. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2009, pp. 15, 17, 29, fig. 18 (color).
Leo J. O'Donovan. "An Eternal Now: Vermeer at the Met." Commonweal 136 (October 23, 2009), p. 25.
Karen Rosenberg. "A Humble Domestic Crosses the Sea." New York Times (September 11, 2009), p. C29.
