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 first in Barcelona, he went on to Tarragona on the small steamer ‘La Tarragonesa’. In this picture, a departure from from his usual maritime scenes, Cooke depicts a typical Tarragonese townscape. The picture is dominated by a church and bell tower, Renaissance in style, with Mozarabic influences shown in the ashlars on the corners of the tower. The dominating presence of the church emphasizes the importance of Catholicism in the popular cultural politics of the time, as well as highlighting the local character of the scene. However, the underlying Islamic layout of the town is indicated in the narrow alleyway leading to the city’s interior, from which emerges a wagon pulled by two horses. Another horse-drawn wagon appears in the foreground, led by a farmer in typical period costume of cloak, hat and woollen stockings.