In 1837 Holland was commissioned to go to Portugal to make drawings to be engraved in Jenning's Landscape Annual, published in 1839. In 1837 he became ill and convalesced at Cintra, just above Lisbon, where he was nursed by an English family. For other examples of watercolours by Holland of Portugese subjects see the 'Moorish Castle and Mafra from the Penha' (Victoria and Albert Museum 43 62 AL, Sheepshanks bequest) which was painted the previous day, July 21