English: The commedia dell'arte historian Pierre-Louis Duchartre (1929 [1966], pp. 84–86) identifies the artist as Paul Porbus the Elder or Frans Porbus. He also says the troupe is probably that of Zan Ganassa. Sterling takes issue with both these statements, saying that the painting is by none of the known members of the Pourbus family, not Pieter Pourbus, Frans Pourbus the Elder, or Frans Pourbus the Younger, but is probably by a Flemish artist, possibly a student of Frans Floris; and that there were many Italian troupes playing in France at this time, and it could be any one of them. However, both Duchartre and Sterling agee on the dating, and Katritzky (2006, p. 143) confirms that this dating is generally accepted. Ferrone, the author of the book which is the source of this image, argues that Tristano Martinelli was the first Harlequin and gives later dates, "1574–1576 (?)".