Boy and girl drinking in the open air

Jacob Maris was the most commercially successful of the three Maris brothers, a central figure of the Hague School whose paintings of Dutch townscapes, canals, and windmills became internationally recognized symbols of the Dutch landscape tradition. This 1877 painting of a boy and girl drinking outdoors represents an unusual subject within his oeuvre — a genre scene rather than his more typical townscape or landscape. Jacob Maris combined the atmospheric concerns of the Hague School with a compositional confidence derived from his study of Dutch 17th-century genre painting. Limited documentation survives about the specific circumstances of this painting's creation.

Jacob Maris's robust, atmospheric handling is evident here — figures placed in outdoor light with the same concern for grey, silvery tonal relationships that characterizes his landscapes. The figures are painted with fluid, confident brushwork, their forms solid against the lighter background, with a restrained palette.