Abraham van Strij

Abraham van Strij was greatly inspired by the masters of the 17th century. In the case of his landscapes, the primary influence came from Aelbert Cuyp (1620-1691), but Van Strij's interior scenes clearly look to those of Pieter de Hooch (1629-after 1679), Frans van Mieris (1635-1681), and other genre masters in terms of their subjects and use of light.

Van Strij made a number of drawings like this, showing one or two figures on a relatively large scale within the composition. See for example A Couple reading by Candlelight, formerly in the Juli and Andrew Wieg Collection¹ or the drawing in the Rijksmuseum, showing a young girl and boy looking at drawings by candlelight.² 

^1. Sale, London, Sotheby's, 24 March 2021, lot 32

^2. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Inv. no. RP-T-1921-144; see In Helder Licht. Abraham en Jacob van Strij, exh. cat., Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum, and Enschede, Rijksmuseum Twenthe, 2000, pp. 155-6, fig. 226, and p. 238, cat. no. 116