Despite suffering from indifferent health, Samuel Prout undertook a number of extended tours through Europe during the 1820s, including in 1829 as far as Prague. This trip was undertaken shortly after the artist was appointed 'Painter in Water-colour in Ordinary to the King' and was partly to find new and interesting subjects to fulfill King George IV's request for drawings.

Whilst in the city Prout made a number of detailed on-the-spot pencil drawings which served as the basis for the highly finished watercolours executed in his studio on his return. Seventeen such drawings were sold at auction following his death in 1852 and the pencil study for the view of the Old Town Square is now in Birmingh...