Interior with Two Men by the Fireside

Brekelenkam worked in Leiden, where he was influenced by Dou’s domestic subjects and by Metsu’s broad touch and intense colours. He is best known for his paintings of men and women artisans working at various crafts: cobblers, lace makers, spinners, fish mongers and so forth. Like so many genre painters of his time, he turned to more elegant subjects in the sixties.