A stream with a peasant woman crossing a footbridge

Originally from Haarlem, Jan Wijnants was a landscape painter who later resided in Rotterdam before moving to Amsterdam in 1660. In contrast to his early tonal dune landscapes, this work contains a luminous surface and rich colors that evoke the southern light of Italy. While there is no evidence that Wijnants ever went to Italy, he gained exposure to Italianate scenes early in his career through fellow artists in Haarlem such as Philips Wouwerman. In the eighteenth century, Wijnants' work reached a wider audience through prints: Jean Mathieu (1749-1815) made an etching after this painting, an example of which is in the British Museum, London (inv. 1917, 1208.1384). As a result, Wijnants' work became popular among eighteenth-century collectors and inspired artists such as François Boucher and Thomas Gainsborough.