Born in Edinburgh, Roberts was apprenticed to a house-painter and then became a theatrical scene-painter, working in collaboration and rivalry with Clarkson Stanfield in London in the 1820s. He developed an interest in exotic places, especially in Egypt and the lands of the Bible, and visited Jerusalem in 1839. His experience as a scene-painter helped him to convey the vistas of towns, deserts and mountains, as well as more detailed interiors of buildings and scenes of local life. Roberts's eastern compositions reached a wide audience through 247 lithographs made by Louis Haghe. He also created associated oil paintings, achieving his effects through an ingenious choice of viewpoint which sometimes disregarded topographical accuracy, a balance of light and dark, and the use of strong and vibrant colour. Although the East was Roberts's greatest source of inspiration, he also made frequent trips to the Continent. In the 1860s he began a series of views of the Thames. This painting belongs to that period but, unlike other examples, no larger finished version is known.