Utrecht Caravaggism

Back in Utrecht, they painted mythological and religious history subjects and genre scenes, such as the card-players and gypsies that Caravaggio himself had abandoned in his later career.

At that time, major artists had either died, as in the case of Baburen and ter Brugghen, or had changed style, like Honthorst's shift to portraiture and history scenes informed by the Flemish tendencies associated with Peter Paul Rubens and his followers.

Along with other Caravaggisti active in Italy and Woerden, they set the stage for later artists who worked in a Caravaggio-inspired manner such as Georges de La Tour in Lorraine.

They broke with the dominant Northern Mannerism previously in favour in the Dutch Republic, preferring a heightened realism borrowed from Caravaggio.

They preferred the use of chiaroscuro effects which raised the dramatic impact of their compositions which were filled with a small number of figures which are portrayed in close-up.