Barent Gael

According to Houbraken, he was a pupil of Philips Wouwerman, who painted many battle pieces and staging areas (Dutch: pleisterplaatsen).

He was in the habit of keeping his own schedule at the risk of offending customers – Houbraken relates a moment when a patron came to his house for a viewing and he claimed he "wasn't at home".

The patron was so insulted that when Gael came to him with the finished painting, he claimed he was now "not at home" and refused payment.

[1] According to the RKD, he painted Italianate landscapes and was prominent in the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke by 1642.

[3] An apprenticeship to Wouwerman was never found in the archives during the period under review, but he shows strong influence by Haarlem colleagues.