Career
Gaal came from a family of painters from the Zeeland area of the Netherlands, his earliest ancestor was a knight called Florens Ghale van Hoesbroec. Gaal"s main focus were "landscapes with cattle and figures furnished, a hobby portraits, living and dead game and genre pieces". He spent time in London (1789–1791), studied in Paris (at the Académie des Beaux-Arts de l"Institut de France in 1791), and traveled to paint in Italy, Switzerland and Germany.