Knox lived on the South Quay opposite Old St Matthew’s Church for most of his early life. Here he has captured a muted sense of the hustle and bustle of the Douglas market with people wandering around its stalls. The figures are rendered as indistinct shadows with little or no definite form. Knox has transformed what would have been an extremely well-known local scene into something less familiar and more akin to a Dutch or northern European street market. Although the painting is signed ‘A. K.’(bottom left-hand corner in red) the accompanying date is unclear. As a result it is difficult to confirm whether the painting was produced by Knox from life (before Old St Matthew’s Church was demolished in 1895) or done at a later date either from memory or earlier sketches.