Peasants by a cottage with a horse stalling

Barent Gael is known for rustic village scenes such as Peasants by a cottage with a horse stalling. As in the works of his teacher, Philips Wouwerman, horses play a prominent role in his paintings and, while few depictions of cavalry skirmishes by Gael are known today, he was recorded by Houbraken as a specialist in small-scale battle scenes. Houbraken also praised him for his close approximation of Wouwerman's painterly style. Gael is known to have painted staffage for Jan Wynants, and other influences include Klaes Molenaer and Roelof van Vries.

We are grateful to Marijke de Kinkelder of the RKD for attributing the present lot to Gael (written communication, 21 July 2006).