Girl Sweeping at a Doorway

While Neuhuys’s interior scenes are reminiscent of those by the seventeenth-century artists Pieter de Hooch and Jan Vermeer, he was possessed of a fresh artistic vision that aligned him with other Hague School artists of his time. His early paintings feature the beautiful surfaces of his forebears—their interior scenes inspired him throughout his career—but his move to Laren, where he, Anton Mauve, and others retreated from the growing industrialization of The Hague, brought about a loosening of his style that infused his art with fresh, raw energy. Neuhuys was particularly admired for the transparent, gleaming light in his works, especially his watercolors. This watercolor is typical of his work: he focuses on a single figure employed in daily duties, especially those associated with farm life. Rural figures such as farmers and weavers were among his favorite subjects.