Jan Victors Amsterdam 1619 - circa 1676 East Indies

Victors earliest dated genre painting, called The village butcher in the Amsterdams Historisch Museum, Amsterdam, dates from 1648 (see W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, Landau/Pfalz 1983, vol. IV, p. 2612, cat. no. 1791, reproduced p. 2691). The composition recalls that of the present picture; several small groups interacting at a village street. During the beginning of the 1650s until the end of the 1660s similar compositions reoccur in Victors’ work. Another example is The fish trader, recorded with Richard Green, London (ibid., p. 2612, cat. no. 1792, reproduced, p. 2693). Especially the background has great similarity; an atmospheric perspective which he created with lighter colours and filled with figures.