Landseer's sketches of views in the Highlands mainly seem to have been made between 1825 and 1835. His first visit to Scotland was in 1824 when he went to visit Sir Walter Scott, amongst others, and fell under the spell of the countryside at once. He went back every Autumn, and from 1827 stayed with the Duke and Duchess of Bedford's party at Glenfeshie. Here he would indulge in his favourite pastime of hunting as well as making endless sketches on the spot of the rugged and wild countryside that fascinated him so much. His studio sale had numerous sketches of the Highlands - many of Glenfeshie, but there are many others of mountainous or lonely spots, and so many of them are painted in the same melancholy colours with dramatic squally effects and sometimes shafts of light and fine details in the foreground as in the present painting.