Georg Eduard Otto Saal (1818-70) was a pupil of Johann Wilhelm Schirmer in Düsseldorf, from 1842 to 1846. In 1848 he went to Heidelberg, then to Baden-Baden, where he was appointed court painter to the Duke. From 1858, he regularly stayed in the Barbizon region of France, where he devoted himself to painting the surroundings. He is known for his views of mountains, fjords and the forest at Fontainebleau. In 1867 his work was included in the Exposition Universelle in Paris.

A country road winds along the bottom of a wooded valley, with a stream, crossed by a wooden bridge, beside it on the right; beyond, the saw mill, with piles of newly-sawn timber before it.