The watercolour was painted when the artist was returning home after acting as one of the jurors for the great international exhibition of decorative art held at Turin in 1902 - a task for which he was made a knight of the Order of the Crown of Italy by King Victor Emmanuel. Having visited the Sacro Monte at Varallo, Crane and his wife made a leisurely tour of Lake Maggiore before taking the steamer at Como for Cadenabbia. There they made 'a longer stay', meeting W.W. Story, the American sculptor domiciled in Rome, 'and other friends', and Crane 'made many sketches' (Walter Crane, An Artist's Reminiscences, 1907, p.492).