J.F. Hoppenbrouwers received his training at the Academy of Fine Art in The Hague, and then at the studio of the acclaimed landscape painter Andreas Schelfhout. He painted romantic summer and winter landscapes in which the composition, lively staffage and atmosphere are close in style to his teacher’s. He occasionally left the painting of the figures to his friend Charles Rochussen. Schelfhout, David Bles and S.L. Verveer also painted the staffage in a few of his works.