Johann Gottlieb Pulian (1809-1875) studied at the art school of his hometown, Meissen, under the German romantic artist Adrian Ludwig Richter. He then studied at the Dresden Academy until 1832, under Richter's father, Carl August Richter. He continued, between 1838 and 1842, at the Düsseldorf Academy, where his teacher was JW Schirmer. He was a founding member of Künstlerverein malkasten in Düsseldorf, exhibiting with this group from 1848 until 1875. His landscapes of the Rhein region, the Belgian Netherlands, Salzburg and Bavaria are represented in the museums of Düsseldorf, Aachen, Bonn, Kiel, Berlin, and Zurich.

Mechelen is a city and municipality in the province of Antwerp, Belgium. It was a centre for artistic production during the Northern Renaissance, when painters, printmakers, illuminators and composers were attracted by illustrious patrons. This view seems to be taken on the Zoutwerf looking towards the Grotbrug (Large Bridge), though the spire immediately behind is certainly the Chruch of St John, which is in s different part of the city centre. A group of women on the quayside in the foreground, beside a horse-drawn cart; in the centre is the bridge over the Dyle; on the right, a woman with a baby steps off a boat onto the landing steps of a waterside building.