Huntsman with Dogs

During the 1610s Bloemaert became increasingly engrossed in observing the world surrounding him. This manifested in every subject he turned to but the most obviously so in his sketches of human figures, his genre scenes and his depictions of animals. Animals observed with extraordinarily meticulous care are rendered true to life in his drawings of the countryside and rural life but they also can be found in his biblical and mythological scenes as well as in his various allegories and single figure studies. A few dozen of his depictions featuring one or more domestic animals or birds have also survived. Engravers, who were in many cases also publishers, compiled series from these drawings since this made them easier to sell to collectors.

The artist's son, Frederick Bloemaert executed a series of fourteen sheets featuring birds and domestic animals after Abraham Bloemaert's drawings.