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, dated 4 March [1846] 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 landscape drawing (with another smaller study at top left) set in the Roman ‘campagna’ and focusing on ancient ruins in the countryside, a favourite subject for 19th-century artists travelling in Italy.