Cornelis Bega was born in Haarlem, the son of Pieter Bega, a wood carver and silversmith, and Maria Cornelis, daughter of the Mannerist painter Cornelis van Haarlem. He is known as a pupil of Adriaen Van Ostade, and of course his work bears a resemblance to Van Ostade's. He was admitted to the Haarlem artists' guild in 1654.

In this state the head of the child is unfinished, as is much of the bottom of the print. In a later state additional work was done (on the head of the child, for example), but the print was left substantially unfinished, in outline in the bottom of the composition. This may have been what Bega desired (and of course, as the Unfinished Print exhibit at the Frick Museum in New York recently documented, many great artists through the ages including Rembrandt, whose prints Bega surely knew, sometimes left their prints "unfinished" when they were satisfied with what they had done). Alternatively, Bega may simply have turned to other work (or this may have been his last). But the outline of the bottom of the composition is clearly delineated in this impression.

Although Hollstein refers to this as The Mother Seated in an Inn, the inn appears to be out of doors. Bega (typically for his mature prints) places his main characters in a pyramidal structure, working some areas extensively with etching to achieve darkness, and leaving other areas much lighter (and of course the bottom of the composition is near white, although it is in fact filled with delicate lines, particularly at the left underneath and behind the chair). The composition is thus filled with interest and contrast.

Perhaps it's also a bit of a contrast to find a mother and child in an inn, but Bega's peasants - a group every bit as earthy and perhaps even a bit coarser than those of his mentor Adriaen Van Ostade - think nothing of mixing childrearing and whatever one does in an inn.