Carriages and Waiting Coachmen

It is a rainy day on the Malieveld, a large green in The Hague. The coachmen of the carriages for hire wait for passengers near the guardhouse. Coachmen generally wore colourful outfits, which in Amsterdam earned them the nickname ‘little monkeys’. Here, the bright colours are concealed under their rain capes. De Zwart, like Breitner, painted images of modern city life, but tended to favour tranquil street scenes.