Landscape paintings were sought-after by the art-loving bourgeoisie in seventeenth-century Holland. Jacob Isaackszoon van Ruisdael became one of the most successful painters in this area. In this view over the town Egmont he applied himself to an advanced depiction of the play of light and shadow. The town lies under the shadow of clouds, but with some effort one can make out a wealth of detail. The light in the painting is concentrated to a small area in the foreground, as if to alert us to the figures by the roadside.