Graham and Kathleen Sutherland set off in Spetember 1947 to Cap Ferrat for their second trip of that year to the South of France. Sutherland secured five weeks bed and breakfast for them by promising the owner of the Welcome Hotel in Villefranche, Guy Galbois, that he would paint an oil to adorn the hotel reception in lieu of paying the bill. The work was painted in a disused chapel nearby and hung in the hotel reception until 1971 when it passed to the family on Galbois' death.

The first of a short series of vine pergolas 'Tonnelle de Vine' clearly shows the inspiration Sutherland took from the colours and vegetation that he now saw around him. His palette had brightened from the wartime drawings and earlier Pembrokeshire landscapes to reflect the beauty and light of the Mediterranean
(see R. Berthoud, op. cit.)