Some of Dujardin’s pastoral scenes from the 1650s are set in the Dutch countryside and reveal the influence of Paulus Potter (1625 – 1654). Other works from this period are set in Italianate landscapes, often with peasant genre scenes in the foreground, a motif popularized by Pieter van Laer (1599 – ca.1642, known as Il Bamboccio while in Rome), who had returned to Haarlem from Rome by 1638. Dujardin began etching in the 1650s, primarily landscapes and animals. Approximately fifty etchings have been attributed to him.
