A view on the River Spaarne looking towards Haarlem. In one of the shipyards on the left a ship is being constructed, and in the distance on the right is the spire of the Church of St Bavo, or Oude Kerk, in the centre of the town.

Industrial or semi-industrial river subjects such as those on the Thames, Medway or Clyde, had a strong appeal for Wyllie, but frequently contained a reference to the past, such as a church tower, as in this example. The watercolour may date from a visit to Holland in the late 1890s.