Nettleship was invited to India in 1880 by the Gaekwad of Baroda, for whom he painted several animal paintings including this one. He was so renowned as a painter of animals that he often painted the animals in other artist's pictures. His early work is in black and white and often of biblical scenes. He turned his hand to book illustration, before taking up the study of animals at the Zoological Gardens to be able to concentrate on animal paintings. He exhibited his work from 1871-1901 at the Royal Academy.
Nettleship painted a hunting scene for the Gaekwad in which a herd of blackbuck are seen scattering before the onslaught of a bounding cheetah. It was called 'The Last Leap but One' and was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1881. This picture shows the the herd of blackbuck before the hunting party has arrived