The plate was part of the sale by Clement de Jonghe (1679 as 74 sittende een naackte slaaper), but was not seen since and is almost certainly not anymore in existence.

Gersaint stated that this plate was called The prodigal son in Holland.

There is a drawing in reverse in the British Museum (HdG 589, Benesch ?) which may have served as a model.
White-Boon point at a drawing in the Bibliothèque Nationale (Benesch A48, now attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten, a pupil of Rembrandt) in which the same model is shown in the same pose (in reverse) but from a slightly different position. This indicates that Rembrandt may have made this etching during one of his training sessions.

There is one anonymous copy in the same direction, signed Rembrandt f. 164- (142 x 94).

NH lists one state only. Most other authors list two states, Biörklund three, Nowell-Usticke one trial proof and two states. All states are considered to be contemporary. The trial proof A (NU) has inky, uneven plate edges and is 2 mm wider. About 2 mm from the right border and 12 mm above the lower margin there is a zigzag scratch, resembling a figure 3.
In the 1st state (NH, WB, H, NU) the edges are made even and the plate is reduced 2 mm at the right side. The hair behind the right cheek is visible.
In the 2nd state (WB, R536, H, NU) the hair behind the right cheek is now covered with new work. Right-to-left diagonals are added to the left of the right leg. NH considers this state to be a retouched impressions of the 1st state.

There are counterproofs in the Rijksmuseum, the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Bibliothèque National and in Copenhagen.
There is an impression on Chinese paper in the Bibliothèque National.

Paschal lamb (1651).

H 220, BB 46-B, G 185, M 279, Mz 135, RA 536-537, Cl 190, W 190, Bl 158, Du 190, CD 178, S 78.
Blaazer 2009, p. 37-47;