A panorama of the Tudor and Stuart palace complex at Greenwich looking slightly west of north from the top of Greenwich Park.To the left stands Greenwich Castle or 'Millefleur' (previously Duke Humphrey's Tower), as occupied by Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton (d. 1614) under James I. This fell into decay after the Civil War and was replaced by Wren's Royal Observatory in 1675-76. The Queen's House has the walled Greenwich-Woolwich road passing under it. Beyond, right and left are the prominent King's Tower of the Tudor Palace of Greenwich and the spire of the dissolved Friary church (in 1637 still part of the Greenwich Armoury). To right (east) of the House are Henry VIII's tiltyard, with its flanking twin towers, banqueting and disguising houses, and the distant range of the Palace chapel flanking the river. Greenwich, with the tower of medieval St Alfege's, is on the left with London beyond. Two ladies in the foreground stand just left of the Inigo Jones gate (1614) to Friars' Road. The small door in the wall to its right may mark the position of the earlier gatehouse and gates between the Palace and Park, which the Queen's House replaced. A coach crosses the Park on what may have been the line of the Roman London-Dover road, though it has also been suggested this passed south of the Castle site before turning down the hill.

This is an example of state iv (the last) of this engraving of 1637, as reissued after 1642. The image, from two plates separately printed and joined at the centre (GRAEN / WICH), is Hollar's earliest dated London view and probably his first important work after arrival in England in 1636, under the patronage of the Earl of Arundel. The cartouche originally bore a 1637 dedication to Queen Henrietta Maria, whose newly finished Queen's House forms the visual focus. This was removed, possibly when she left England on the eve of the Civil War in January 1642, leaving a blank cartouche (state ii). The Latin verse shown here, by Henry Peacham (d. 1643), was then substituted above his name, with a new 1637 signature by Hollar (state iii). In this example (state iv), both names and the date have been removed to make way for a free English translation of the Latin, with an undated 'W. Hollar fecit' added below and 'London Printed and sould by Peter Stent at the Crowne in Giltspur street betwixt new Gate and pie Corner' beneath the image border, left. Heavy clouds in earlier states have also been removed. PAI7661 is a brighter and more displayable copy, but trimmed of the printer's line: ZBA0726 is a worn and damaged copy presented to the 5th Astronomer Royal, Nevil Maskelyne, 'for the use of the Royal Observatory' in 1806 and PAI7662 a mid-20th-century reproduction. All are of state iv. Refs: Hind (1922) no. 20; Pennington (1982) no. 977.