The viewer’s interest is almost equally divided between animals and people in this scene, a characteristic that marks Philips Wouwerman’s work. The Dutch artist’s reputation rested upon his highly skilled depictions of horses, although as this charming painting attests, he had a way with donkeys, dogs, and people, as well.

Full of detail and narrative incident, this image of travelers pausing to rest along a journey is, above all else, a study of light and shade. Wouwerman highlights certain areas of the composition, such as the face and breast of the smiling mother in the figural group in the foreground. Other areas are more occluded, either through people shown with turned backs or through partially shadowed features. As is typical for this artist, he utilized a horizontal composition, including an arching, narrow tree to help rivet his viewer’s gaze on the lively bustle.

Wouwerman was born into an artistic family and first trained by his father. Although anecdotal evidence suggests that he served as an apprentice to Frans Hals (ca. 1580–1666), Wouwerman’s cheerful works bear no trace of the older artist’s agitated brushwork or occasional moral commentary. Wouwerman’s remarkable consistency of style has also made it hard to date his works securely.

What is definitely clear is Wouwerman’s popularity in his own lifetime and afterward among British collectors of the 1700s and 1800s. In choosing this affectionately busy scene, Julian Wood Glass Jr. emulated the taste of English country-house gentry.