A River Scene, with a Hut on an Island

This painting is a companion piece to Fishermen hauling a Net, which is exactly the same size and depicts a scene with three similarly positioned boats, a low horizon and high billowing clouds. However, the muddy island in the middle of this scene is more substantial and, as the title suggests, someone has built a hut on it.

There are many subtle differences between the two pictures. In this one it appears to be high water; in the other it is clearly low tide. And while both feature a windmill and a church in similar positions on the horizon, the church depicted in this painting has a tower rather than a spire. The boats are also being used for a different purpose here - not for fishing, but f...