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 a Church form a pair (CW 175-6, 406028-9). Both paintings are characteristic of the artist's work, in the style of Jan van Goyen. Two fishermen haul their fishing boat onto a muddy beach, watched by a woman seated on a fence holding a basket; on the left bank of the broad river behind them is a village with ships moored in the middle distance; on the right, a windmill is visible.