On an early photograph of this painting it is described as Landseer’s first attempt at painting in fresco. Fresco is a type of wall painting where paint is applied to fresh plaster. It was painted at Gwydir House in Whitehall. In 1843 a number of artists visited the house to look at the example Landseer had painted ‘merely to exhibit the care and freedom with which the (to us) new material may be worked upon.’