Liebermann was fascinated by Holland. He made his first trip there in 1872 and returned on numerous occasions for years afterwards. He was inspired by the openness and flatness of the terrain and constantly discovered new motifs for his paintings. As his trips to Holland were often short and sporadic he was able to maintain an objective point of view on all he saw there. One of his favourite themes was peasants engaged in everyday chores such as plucking geese, repairing nets or doing needlework.

This work came directly from Paul Cassirer, one of the most influential dealers in Berlin at the turn of the century. Cassirer was a director of the Berlin Secession at the time when Liebermann, Corinth and Slevogt were hailed as the Impressionist triumvirate and acted as dealer to all three. He remained an active member of the Secessionist movement until the artists of Die Brcke and Der Blaue Reiter came onto the scene when he began to promote the work of Kirchner, Kubin, Kokoschka and their contemporaries.

A charming preparatory study for the present pastel is housed in the Nationalgalerie, Berlin (see fig. 1).