The Haarlem painter H.J. Wesseling started his artistic career with an education at the famous Kunstnijverheidsschool in Haarlem. He used the knowledge he acquired there in the field of decorative arts as a house and decorative painter. In 1914 he opted for free painting. In a surprisingly free impressionistic style and often flaming colours, he painted figures, flowers and still lifes. He was particularly famous as a figure and portrait painter far and wide from his hometown.