Pieter Withoos was born in Amersfoort in 1654. He was the second son of Mathias Withoos, a well-known still life painter. His father trained him, as he did four other children – including his daughter, Alida Withoos. In 1672 the Withoos family moved to Hoorn; afterwards, Pieter seems to have moved to Utrecht, as his daughter was baptized there in 1686. He, like his father, specialized in painting still lifes and studies of plants, insects, animals and birds. Withoos died at an early age in Amsterdam, when he was only 38 years old.

The present work is a small-scale study of a bird, of which Withoos is known to have produced several. It is reminiscent to the work of Pieter I and II Holsteyn, who were his near-contemporaries. The details of the animal are very carefully rendered, especially the feathers on top of its head.