Waterpainting on paper signed bottom right & dated 1852. Gabriel obviously loved to paint scenes with the  water of a river or lake and with boats as well as scenes in the Netherlands from 1853 but obviously here during a trip abroad. His father, a sculptor, died when he was five & Paul helped his mother support their large family by painting portraits. In 1840, Gabriel began evening classes at Amsterdam’s Academy and worked for short periods with different teachers, including landscape painter Barend Cornelis Koekkoek. From 1853 to 1856 he lived in the village of Oosterbeek. With fellow artists he focused on depicting nature. Following a brief stay in Amsterdam, he lived from 1860 to 1884 in Brussels and spent the remainder of his life in Scheveningen. In Belgium, he continued to paint typically Dutch subjects, such as polder landscapes with mills and lakes. Unlike other artists of the Hague School he used clear, vivid colours.