Jacobus Hermanus Otterbeek, son of a liquor store, was trained as a painter at the Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten in his native city, The Hague. He lived and worked in the court city for most of his life, with the exception of a period of several years in Paris after 1878. Otterbeek mainly painted genre scenes and portraits. For example, he painted the image of his fellow painter and fellow townsman Samuel Verveer. Undoubtedly, Otterbeek was influenced by artists of the Hague School, whom he must have known. This impressionistic scene of fishermen on the beach is in any case related to the style and choice of subject of some of these painters.