Cleves (Kleve in German, Kleef in Dutch) was a Duchy just south of the Dutch border, who ownership was disputed after the death of the local Ducal line in 1609. When it passed to the Elector of Bandenberg, he chose as its governor in 1647 the famous Dutch soldier and great-nephew of William the Silent, John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen (1604-79). John Maurice created the famous Baroque gardens around the town of Cleves, which can still be seen today and which appear in this group of five huge canvases (CW 270-4, 400101, 406170 and 406788-90). These also probably belonged to him: the inventory of his possessions at the Prinsenhof in Cleves in 1677 lists ‘sechs grosse schildereyen, represententiren den schonen prospect von der Clevischen situation’ (‘six large paintings representing the beautiful prospect of the location of Cleves’). These works (or at least the five of them now surviving) next appear in the 1688 inventory of the possessions of James II.

These paintings must have been created before 1677 when they appear in the inventory (mentioned above) and after 1666, when the Amphitheatre (which appears in two of them) was built. The Prinsenhof itself was built in 1671 by Pieter Post; it seems likely that these paintings were commissioned at that time as part of its interior decorations. The five canvases are of a standard height (c. 220 cm), with four of standard width (c. 335 cm) and one narrower (194 cm wide).

The Amphitheatre is the epicentre of the New Tiergarten. This view is taken looking due south from the terraces visible in CW 272, 406170; in front of us are two pools with a statue of Minerva by Quellinus; beyond the semi-circular loggia of the amphitheatre itself; beyond that an avenue leading up the hillside. A drawing by Lambert Doomer (British Museum) shows this same spot.