A group of peasants seated, and a couple walking away

Simon de Vlieger’s surviving drawings greatly outnumber his paintings and etchings. Not only was the artist a prolific draftsman, but also many of the sheets (over one thousand) left in the studio at his death ended up with the painter and collector Jan van de Cappelle (1626-1679) and were not, therefore, immediately dispersed (C. P. van Eeghen, ‘Simon de Vlieger as a Draftsman, I. The Pen Drawings’, Master Drawings, XCIV, no. 1, Spring 2006, p. 30).

De Vlieger produced many maritime scenes and the figures on this sheet resemble the many characters seated or working by the seashore in the artist’s compositions. The figures can be compared with those in a black chalk drawing formerly in the collection of Michael Ingram (ibid., p. 19, ill.).