Like most of Peeters’ landscape pictures this vista is surveyed from an elevated viewpoint which affords a detailed panorama of the entire scene and creates an illusion of abundant spatial depth. Such a view heightens the compositional significance of the figures within the painting. Characteristic of his work is the representation of the sky: clouds are compact, dense, and range in colour from dazzling white to dark charcoal.

The vista depicted has never been identified conclusively. However it has long been considered a fanciful representation of the port of Archangel in northern Russia. Archangel, named after the archangel Michael, was a major trading post for both the Dutch and English from the mid-sixteenth century but by the seventeenth century it was mainly the Dutch who traded in this area. In spite of its remote location on the Arctic coast and its wintry climate, Archangel retained its position as Russia’s most vital trading port until well into the eighteenth century. Archangel stands on the Northern Dvina River, near the White Sea, and is icebound for half the year. Peeters has conveyed the intense cold characteristic of the port and, since he travelled extensively, he may have experienced this first hand.