A view of the village of Renkum, with travellers in wagons resting on the roadside by an inn, the church beyond

Beck suggests a date for this picture of circa 1651, comparing this with a series of drawings of that year. This series is part of a sketchbook the artist made on a trip along the villages of the Rhine, travelling via Arnhem to Cleves in 1651-2. Beck mentions several other drawings of views in Renkum from this tour (Jan Van Goyen 1596-1656, Katalog der Handzeichnungen, 1972, Amsterdam, I, nos. 214, 224a, 298 and 847/99). Of these, the one that bears the closest resemblance to this picture is no. 214 (see fig. a), now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, no. RP-T-A-4319 (see M. Schapelhouman et al., Catalogue of the Dutch and Flemish Drawings in the Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, VI, p. 86, no. 169, illustrated).

The trip along the Rhine was popular with artists during the 17th century; Aelbert Cuyp and Joris van der Haagen made a similar journey in 1663.