Cooke made numerous trips throughout Europe and North Africa. In 1860, in company with Robert Bateman, he undertook a journey around Spain towards Tangier. A new, more luminous quality began to pervade the colours in his work. The light of the Mediterranean can be seen even in his pencil sketches, which show clarity and the sense of exoticism that Spain awakened in European travellers.

After staying in Valencia, they continued on their route along the east coast of Spain, arriving in Cartagena, where they collected their mail at the Consul’s house, and where the sick Cooke was tended by Dr Dailgarms. The doctor also introduced them to his family and found them lodgings and a studio where Cooke could work.

Cartagena is a city protected by five hills, on which several different eras left their mark in the form of castles. The ruins of one of these castles can be seen at the top of the picture. It is the bullring, however – one of the most representative structures of Spanish culture – which is the most prominent feature of the picture, dominating the foreground square. This bullring, built on the site of a Roman amphitheatre of the 1st century BC (of which some remains are still visible), opened in 1857. The last bullfight there was in 1986, and it currently stands abandoned. The drawing is numbered ‘86’ in the top right corner.