This is the oldest view of Breda, and indeed the oldest view of any Dutch town. It was probably painted by an artist from Antwerp between 1518 and 1520. Or it might be the work of two artists, as the landscape and the figures do not appear to have been painted by the same person.
The panel shows medieval Breda centred around the Grote Kerk or Church of Our Lady. To the left is the castle belonging to the Nassaus. To the right of the church are a chapel with a small tower and some simple houses. This is the beguinage, built to house a community of lay religious women (beguines). The painting was originally part of a triptych, with smaller paintings, or ‘doors’, on either side. This is the top half of the centre painting, which is why we see only the head of the man and woman.
Christ and the Samaritan Woman near the Town of Breda, anonymous, c. 1518-1520, oil on panel | Stedelijk Museum Breda; on loan from the Friends of Stedelijk Museum Breda, acquired with the support of the Rembrandt Association, Noord-Brabant provincial authority and the Mastboom-Brosens Stichting.