An example of David Teniers' late work, Figures fishing in a stream by a cottage features the loose brushwork that was typical of the artist's style during this period. The composition is anchored by the presence of a cottage on the left but the landscape view opens up at the right unimpeded by either buildings or storm clouds. Patches of red in both paintings draw the eye to the lower left, encouraging the viewer to take in the scene from left to right and in the context of Figures fishing in a stream emphasizing the physicality of the activity. The leaves on the trees at the center of the composition are articulated with bold touches of the end of the brush and the landscape in the distance is painted quickly, wet in wet.
Teniers' interest in atmospheric effects was not limited to his late works. Drawings such as Landscape with trees in Brussels (Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts), of around 1650, reveal his interest in the naturalistic play of light and the spontaneity of movement that characterize this scene. Other similar paintings include his series of the seasons in 's-Hertogenbosch (Noordbrabants Museum) and the Great Village Festival in Dresden, painted in the late 1670s.
Margaret Klinge was not able to attribute this painting to David Teniers on the basis of photographs.