Scene in the Scottish Highlands, afternoon effect

Henry Bright was born in Saxmundham, Suffolk, to Jerome Bright a local clock maker. He is thought to have taken lessons in Norwich from John Berney Crome (1794-1842), and was later apprenticed to Alfred Stannard (1806-89). Although he moved to London in 1836, where he would remain for some twenty years, he maintained strong links with the Norwich School of artists, often painting Norfolk landscapes which in turn he exhibited at the Royal Academy. In 1844 Queen Victoria purchased Bright's Entrance to an Old Prussian Town (Royal Collection), and further professional successes saw him collaborate on landscape backgrounds with artists including John Frederick Herring Senior (1795-1865) and William Shayer (1788-1879). He retired to Ipswich in 1868.

The present work is traditionally thought to show a landscape in the Cairngorms in the Scottish Highlands, which in Gaelic translates as 'The Blue Hills'. These granite hills with their deep valleys traditionally attracted artists in the 19th Century seeking to paint breathtakingly dramatic views.