An Extensive Wooded Landscape with Travellers on a Path

Jacques d’Arthois specialised in depicting the varied views from the edges of the forest, rather than the bosky forest interior. In the centre of the present autumnal scene, a narrow path leads the viewer’s eye to a group of travellers resting. The painting may possibly depict the Soignies area of Hainaut (now Belgium) where Jacques d’Arthois had a home, and the village seen in the distance is perhaps Casteau. He and several other artists, including Lodewijk de Vadder and Lucas Achtschellinck, who also lived and worked in the forest, later became known as the Soignies forest painters.