Ruisdael's many paintings of rocky landscapes with waterfalls are often characterized as Scandinavian scenes, even though the artist never visited this region. The paintings are instead influenced by the works of Allart van Everdingen, who traveled to Norway and Sweden in the mid-1640s and popularized images of Scandinavian scenery. The vogue for Northern landscapes may have led Ruisdael to undertake a similar trip to the Dutch-German border in the 1650s and this is likely the direct source for many of his paintings of waterfalls.