A drawing of six fishermen and a boy. On the left, a back view of a fisherman standing. In the centre, an old fisherman seated on the ground with his right arm resting on a basket. On the right, a boy side view, also seated on a basket. Four fishermen standing behind.

This is one of a large group of figure studies formerly attributed to such artists as De Vlieger and identified by Sir Bruce Ingram as the work of Van de Velde the Elder. Most of these drawings are in his collection. The identification has since been confirmed by a group of drawings from the Milford collection, all of which have inscribed on the back in an 18th-century hand: ‘Wm. Vandeveld Senr’. The drawings were used as studies for the foreground groups in the large grisailles which Van de Velde the Elder was doing about 1655.