John Muir Wood undertook a tour of Europe in 1847 and kept notes of his progress and photography in a diary. He came to Namur after Ostend, Bruges, Ghent and Waterloo and dismissed it briskly as, 'not interesting.' Paradoxically this picture, taken there, is among his finest works. Incidental features like the barges; the poles thrust out over the river; and the luminosity of the water against the dark mass of the buildings create a highly atmospheric view.