The National Gallery of Denmark (SMK) has an almost identical drawing also dated Skagen 20 May 1833 (Inv. no. KKSgb5231). This work has a small sketch of a figure in the upper left corner.

The following is written about SMK's drawing in the catalogue for the Martinus Rørbye exhibition at Thorvaldsens Museum in 1981 (p. 198, in Danish):

“From his short stay on Skagen in May 1833, Rørbye brought home small studio drawings of this type. Already in Thisted, he had begun studying fishermen at their work. Apparently not with an interest for the human body in motion, but to register the unique traits of a local trade. He worked, true to form, intently with the exact reproduction of tools, clothing and headwear. Many cultural historians have also used Rørbye's drawings as source material for the study of the development of clothing and tools through history. Jens Tønnesen writes in his book ”Det svundne Skagen fortæller“ (Stories from Bygone Skagen) that this is an old-fashioned seine net where the line was placed on the shoulder – hence the awkward gait with the back to the seine. One of the men is wearing a pair of high waders. The man in front is wearing a pair of trousers called ”wiidbukser“ made of stamped frieze, which could be pulled over the waders so that the waves would not fill them with water. The headgear worn by the men is either ordinary woollen nightcaps or some sort of high hats, ”Blankhatte", which were bought when the Skavbrigs (ships from Skagen) sailed south with dried fish. Rørbye has here and there used clear red, blue and yellow colours. As documentation of the history of the costume, these drawings have a special value, when compared with the studies of the “Skagen painters” made fifty years later.”

This description fits the present drawing exactly.