Circle of Jacob Isaacz. van Ruisdael

This charming, atmospheric image of a cottage seen through trees, compositionally rather reminiscent of Hobbema, is comparable in the handling of the foliage and the forms of the figures with a number of drawings by Jacob van Ruisdael.  The figures, though not dissimilar to those in Ruisdael's early "Dresden Sketchbook" drawings¹, are also, however, reminiscent of Nicolaes Berchem, and it is perhaps worth considering that this drawing might actually have been made by Berchem during the journey that he and Ruisdael are known to have made together to Westphalia, in around 1650.  

^1.  S. Slive, Jacob van Ruisdael, A Complete catalogue of his Paintings, Drawings and Etchings, New Haven/London 2001, pp. 525-530, nos. D44-D52