Some villagers converse while going about their peasant tasks.

This work is one of the rural scenes showing everyday life in the Flemish countryside, of which Teniers made many, especially during the sixteen forties, when he gradually abandoned the indoor scenes that had also made him famous.

The presence of a block in the foreground —in this case, a house— and a perspective of the landscape in the background on one side of the painting, are customary in this sort of paintings.

The warm evening light that illuminates the background is singular and is not present in other works of his, but the figures of the peasants are repetitions of models he used in many other paintings. Especially significant is the figure shelling mussels, a traditional foodstuff in the Low Countries.

This work was first listed at Madrid's Alcázar Palace in 1700.