Arina Hugenholtz was known as the 'grande dame' of the Laren painters' genre, where she was the link between the old and younger generation of painters. She painted impressionistic Gooische landscapes, forest views and heathland with sheep, friendly village images, children and lush still lifes. The painter lived in Amsterdam until 1878, where she was one of the first women to study at the Rijksacademie, together with Wally Moes. She then moved to The Hague, from where she painted a lot in Katwijk and Scheveningen. On the advice of her teacher Anton Mauve, she went to Laren in 1885 to settle there permanently.