Willem van den Berg, born on 16 February 1886 in The Hague, first trained with his father Andries van den Berg, a painter, printmaker and art teacher. Van den Berg enrolled at the local Art Academy and took study trips to Belgium, Italy, England, and France. One of his paintings was exhibited at the Jeu de Paume in Paris in 1926. In 1935, Van den Berg exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago and continued to exhibit internationally throughout his career. By 1938, Van den Berg moved to Amsterdam, where he became the director of the National Academy of Fine Arts.

In the late nineteenth century, Volendam had become one of the biggest artists’ villages in Europe. Like Signac, Renoir and Picasso, Van den Berg was not only attracted to the surroundings of the colorful fishing village on the former Zuiderzee sea, but also to its inhabitants. The local fishermen, their faces showing endurance and hardship across all seasons, became a source of inspiration for Van den Bergh throughout his career. The sitters, paid models portrayed in their traditional costume, recur in different drawings by Van den Berg.

The fisherman in our drawing can be identified based on a portrait of Jan Jonk (1858-1945), executed five days prior in the Openluchtmuseum. Since many family members in Volendam have the same names, people are identified by their nicknames: Jan Jonk was known as Jan van Aal.