Schalcke was born at Haarlem and worked principally as a landscape artist. However, there are few existing works by him known today. He seems to have specialised in views of inland water using a compositional formula and a limited range of colours.

This and River Landscape with Fishermen beside a Boat form a pair (CW 175-6, 406028-9). As in the companion painting, the influence of Jan van Goyen is apparent, in addition to that of Salomon van Ruysdael. The church, like the windmill in River Landscape with Fishermen beside a Boat, indicates the horizon and gives depth to the scene. On the banks of a broad river, a fisherman stands in his boat at the water's edge and untangles the fishing nets draped over the bow; his companion, on the bank, uncoils a knotted pile of rope.