From 1885 onwards, Tholen spent much time at the Ewijckshoeve, the family country house of the artist Willem Witsen (1860-1923). The house was situated in the forests of Soest and served as an important meeting place for artists, writers and musicians. Tholen explored new motifs while at Ewijckshoeve where he took inspiration from his immediate environment and where the simplest things became potential subjects. In 1886 Tholen married Coba Muller, who was a dear family friend of the Witsen family and a very close friend of Witsen's sister Cobi Arntzenius-Witsen. The friendship between the two families was so close that in 1890 Willem Bastiaan and Coba invited Bram Arntzenius and Cobi to live with them in the house 'Kanaalvilla', which was situated on the channel by the 'Witte Brug' between The Hague and Scheveningen. The Arntzenius family had six children who were a grateful subject for Tholen to draw or paint and as the Tholen's did not have children of their own they viewed the Arntzenius children as their own.

It is likely that the present lot depicts Mrs Artzenius-Witsen with two of their children in the interior of the Ewijckshoeve, which was her family country house.