A village scene with harvesters and a horseman on a track, a field with hay stooks seen beyond

Drawn in connection with van de Velde's circular painting on oak panel, signed and dated 1616, which was with Galerie Kraus, Paris, in 1979 (G. Keyes, Esaias van de Velde, Doornspijk, 1984, no. 130, pl. 79). The framework of the composition is essentially the same, allowing for the altered format, although in the painting the farmer in the background has yet to start unloading hay into his barn and the stooks to the right are neatly tied into pyramids. The arrangement of the present drawing, with a empty panel left at the lower margin apparently for an inscription, may however suggest that van de Velde was thinking of developing the composition as a print, although none of the subject are known.