A view of Wesel on the Lippe river with an artist sketching in the foreground

This expansive city view depicts the city of Wesel in North Rhine-Westphalia Germany. Located between Amsterdam and Cologne near the Rhine and Lippe rivers, Wesel was known in the 16th century for its embrace of the Reformation. It became a destination for Protestants from the Low Countries seeking refuge from their Catholic Spanish rulers, earning the nickname Vesalia Hospitalis, or "Hospitable Wesel". During the Eighty Years War, Spanish forces occupied Wesel, which was later captured by the Dutch in 1629.

Born in The Hague, Anthonie van der Croos was partial to landscape and city views, depicting the city of Wesel multiple times. He worked for a time in Alkmaar, before returning to The Hague where he was a founding member of the artists' confraternity 'Pictura'. The confraternity's dedication to drawing from life is echoed in the present work, for in the foreground Van der Croos included two figures, one of them an artist sketching the city before him. The present work also provides a valuable impression of Wesel as it stood before being leveled in 1945.