Van de Velde’s rich and elegant composition incorporates local ruins and flora from the countryside around Haarlem, eschewing classical architecture and whimsical vegetation. He followed the new vogue for realistic and local Dutch landscape championed by his famous uncle Esaias, although his views remain confections of the imagination. He sets dilapidated buildings against dense foliage and expansive skies, forming a diagonal sweep into the background. Particularly refined is his rendering of sky and the surface of water.