Pieter de Molyn worked out of Haarlem where he was one of the leading naturalistic landscape painters. The other major painters of this genre in the city were Jan van Goyen and Salomon van Ruysdael. All three of these artists developed a similar monochromatic style, though it is not known whether they created this approach independently or collaboratively. However, Molyn's 1626 painting, Sand Dune is the earliest dated painting of this kind. Later in his career, Molyn's career lost its momentum. He worked mostly as a draughtsman and also produced some etchings.