George Hendrik Breitner (1857–1923) was born on 12 September 1857 in Rotterdam. In 1876 he left for The Hague, where he spent four and a half years at the Royal Academy of Art, and he also worked in the studio of Willem Maris and, in 1880–81, at the Panorama Mesdag. In these early years he was influenced by the painters of the Hague School.
He later distanced himself from the Hague School and settled in Amsterdam, where, with his friend Isaac Israëls, he became the leading figure of Amsterdam Impressionism. Breitner painted the city as it was changing around him: horse trams and crowds on the Dam, rainy streets and canals, harbours and building sites, as well as military scenes with cavalry and soldiers. He was also a gifted photographer, and he used photographs as aids for his paintings. He belonged to the Tachtigers, the generation of Dutch artists and writers of the 1880s.
In his later years critics lost interest in his work, as the younger generation found Impressionism too superficial. Breitner died in Amsterdam on 5 June 1923.