An artist sketching, near Elten

An Artist Sketching near Elten from 1655 by Cuyp depicts a fellow painter working from nature near the German border town. The subject reflects the practice of plein-air sketching that was increasingly important to Dutch landscape painters. Cuyp worked primarily in Dordrecht throughout his career, and his paintings of the Dutch countryside—cattle in golden light, river views, and horsemen against luminous skies—established him as one of the most technically accomplished landscape painters of the Dutch Golden Age.

The artist at work is set within a broad landscape bathed in Cuyp's warm golden light, the elevated terrain near Elten providing panoramic views that attracted landscape painters.