A Formal Garden: Three Ladies Surprised by a Gentleman

De Jongh is best known for courtyard or garden scenes, closely resembling the late work of Pieter de Hooch. This is the kind of country house, built in the classical style and with a rectilinear formal garden, which became fashionable after the construction of the Huis ten Bosch ('House in the Woods') near the Hague in 1645-55, the royal summer palace and sort of patriotic shrine to the Stadtholder, Frederick Henry of Orange.