Francis Guy made this painting to show his Brooklyn neighborhood as he saw it from the window of his house. He lived and painted in a town house on 11 Front Street, at the corner of Front Street and Dock Street. In 1820, this corner was part of the commercial center of Brooklyn. People in the neighborhood came here to buy hardware, get their horses shod and carriages repaired, and purchase other things they needed.

Lavar  
Guy didn't just paint the houses, barns, stores, and streets of Brooklyn. He knew that to really show what his neighborhood was like, he had to include the people he saw every day. He worked on his painting during the winter of 1819-20. As he worked, he looked out his window and observed his neighbors going about their daily business.

Horses have metal shoes put on their hooves. This is called being "shod."