Throughout his career as a painter, Edward Cooke travelled extensively in Europe, visiting France, Holland, Italy, Spain, North Africa and Scandinavia. Paintings and drawings resulted from all his travels, but it is evident that the places that provided the strongest fascination for him besides the southern coastline of England, were the beaches and estuaries of Holland and the topography of Venice and Italy.

This pencil drawing was made during his first Mediterranean tour of 1845–46, when he travelled through the south of France, to Florence, Rome, Salerno and Capri. It is a topographical sketch, dated 1845 and annotated with details of locations, comprising views of Varigotta (now called Varigotti), a small village in the province of Genoa. The views focus on the same building, the church of Varigotta, seen from different viewpoints. Inset at top left is a thumbnail, entitled ‘Finale’, meaning Finale Ligure, another village nearby, and showing another aspect of the mountainous terrain in which the villages are set.