This is related to a group of body-colours in the ‘Academical' sketchbook (T.B.XLIII-39v, 41v, 42v, 43v and 44v; all but the second repr. Gage 1967, pl.5 and Wilkinson 1972, pp.82-3; see No.44) which were used for the finished watercolour of  'Caernarvon Castle' exhibited at the R.A. in 1799 (No.42). Both body-colours and oil seem therefore to have been painted on Turner's tour of Wales in the late summer of 1798.

There is no difference here in style or purpose between the sketch in oil and those in body-colour; later in his career Turner would differentiate between different media. Turner, by covering the blue paper of his sketchbook with a reddish-brown wash, has produced an effect very close to the use of a wood support for the oil.

The finished watercolour was exhibited in 1799 with some verses by the Scottish poet David Mallet (?1705-1765). Turner's choice of these lines, similar in sentiment to The Seasons by Mallet's friend James Thomson, from which Turner had quoted the year before (see No.30), again reflects his interest in the visual effects of natural phenomena.