The German artist Lingelbach moved with his family to Amsterdam at an early age, but he also lived in Rome for several years. He made this painting around twenty years later, on his return to Amsterdam. It is an imaginary scene of a Mediterranean harbour with exotic figures, a camel and classical architecture.
Lingelbach was popular with collectors for a long time. In the eighteenth century, stadholder Prince Willem V of Orange purchased this painting for his gallery.