A view of Egmond aan Zee, a horsedrawn cart and figures resting in the foreground

The fishing village of Egmond aan Zee with its sandy beaches and distinctive church, was a popular excursion site for numerous landscape painters in the 17th century. Although beach and coastal scenes make up only a small part of Salomon van Ruysdael's oeuvre, he is known to have painted several views of Egmond aan Zee, in the early 1660s. The artist appears to have been drawn to the coast especially between 1660 and 1665, when he also depicts views of Zantvoort and Scheveningen.

The present view is thus rare in his oeuvre, as it is painted much earlier than his other depictions of beach villages. Furthermore, this view shows the approach to the village looking towards the sea, unlike Ruysdael's other depictions of Egmond aan Zee, in which the village is usually seen from the other side.