Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck, the Dutch ambassador in Paris, commissioned Knip to make a series of paint-ings of the Batavian embassy, the Hôtel de Beauharnais. This is the view from the embassy, looking at the Palais des Tuileries. An optical telegraph is visible at right atop a gabled roof, while another one can be seen in the far right distance, on Montmartre. Such enabled contact between Paris and the Netherlands.