Mackintosh visited Wareham in the summer of 1895 and made several drawings and at least one watercolour there [see lot 75]. Other sketches survive in a dismembered sketchbook (collection of Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow) of which this drawing was once part.

This is one of the most unusual drawings contained in Mackintosh's sketchbooks; most of these jottings were made for some professional purpose but here Mackintosh seems to have been playfully doodling, intrigued perhaps by the interesting outline of the cow and its reflection in the pond beneath.