It was typical of Töpffer to execute drawings during his courses in summer, which he would then color in winter, as indicated by the color inscriptions on the present drawing. Töpffer would also use the same studies and incorporate them in his compositions. He kept them in a large portfolio. He wrote to his wife from Bex in 1814 'Je n'ay plus qu'une seule course à faire ici, .... et j'aurai dessiné tout ce qu'on peut y dessiné cette année. Je pars aussitôt après, [mais] je ne puis partir à pied pour bien des raisons, la plus forte est que je ne veux pas confier mon portefeuille à personne, à cause des soins qu'il a exigés.' [I only have here one course to do,... and I will have drawn everything that can be drawn this year. I would leave as soon as possible, but I can't go by foot for a number of reasons, the most important is that I don't want to give my portfolios to anybody, because of the care it took to form them.], L. Boissonnas, Wolfgang-Adam Töpffer, Paris, 1995, p. 91.