The topographical artist, David Roberts, began his career as a house painter, subsequently graduating to theatrical scene painting at Covent Garden and Drury Lane. In 1824 he first exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists, and at the Royal Academy two years later. Roberts travelled widely, making trips to the Low Countries and to Spain, Egypt, Syria and the Holy Land. His meticulously detailed watercolour of the Town Hall at Ghent was made during a sketching tour principally to the Rhine, begun in summer 1830.