Allart was the youngest of three brothers, all of whom became painters. On a sea voyage to Scandinavia in the 1640s, a shipwreck landed him in Norway. There he ventured forth to sketch the rugged forested landscape that was foreign to his eyes. Returning in 1645 to his homeland, he began making use of his Scandinavian drawings, producing many scenes of rocky forests with hills and rivers. This scene by Van Everdingen picturing rocky promontories and a castle can be placed among his works of the early 1660s. The prominent compositional features – the rock pillars, cliff, and the castle – appear to have been adapted from his drawings, possibly made from life. The present painting stands out in the artist’s oeuvre for its framing of a wide vista between two rises, with a vast expanse of cloudy sky above. The resulting monumental effect is strongly reminiscent of the work of Hercules Seghers, which inspired many artists, including Rembrandt.