Rosewell Castle, North Wales, with washerwomen in the foreground and a bridge beyond

Ibbetson travelled to Wales in 1789 when he was introduced to Viscount Mountstuart, the son of the 3rd Earl of Bute, with whom he toured South Wales. He clearly felt an affinity with the Welsh landscape, and the largest group of identifiable surviving works by Ibbetson with another patron, Colonel Grant, are of Welsh views. He is certainly known to have returned in 1792 and it is possible that he may have visited North Wales when he was working for Thomas Vernon in Liverpool in 1798 and 1799.