Willem Bastiaan Tholen was raised in the town of Kampen, where he grew up in an artistic environment. His father, P.H.H. Tholen (1831-1913) was an enthousiastic amateur painter who acquainted his son with life in the country and en plein air painting. Important for Tholen's artistic development was his training at Paul Gabriel's (1828-1903) studio in Brussels in 1879 en they would remain a strong artistic friendship for years to come.
As early as 1883, Tholen gained international recognition and work by his hand was exhibited in Munich and in 1884 he participated in three international exhibitions and was rewarded various medals. Tholen viewed nature as his greatest source of inspiration and he always strived to depict it as objective and complete as possible.

In 1890 the young Tholen and his wife moved to the house 'Kanaalvilla' situated on the channel by the 'Witte Brug' between The Hague and Scheveningen and around this time the artist executed a number of paintings depicting town views of which the present lot is an interesting example. Depicted is a view of Scheveningen in winter, which was the period when the 'schuiten' would be inspected for shipworm, deposits of weed and shells and the necessary maintenance was carried out.
The painting combines all of Tholen's painterly qualities and the manner in which the barge on the left and the houses to the right have been cut off throw the spectator into the midst of the composition, creating a sense of intimacy of a waking village.

The present lot can be compared to another, early, large winter scene by Tholen, depicting Bomschuiten op het strand van Scheveningen, circa 1889 (oil on canvas, 71 x 101 cm, Groninger Museum, on loan from J.B. Scholten fonds, inv.no. 1969.0051).