After purchasing the properties ‘Riversdale’ and ‘Bundanon’ on the Shoalhaven River near Nowra in the 1970s, Boyd continually returned to the subject of the surrounding landscape in his art for the rest of his career. He often spoke of the awe-inspiring drama of the Shoalhaven landscape, its immense scale, and how different it was to the gentle rural scenery around Melbourne where he had grown up. His many and varied views of Pulpit Rock, to the south-east of Bundanon, have been compared in spirit with Monet’s haystacks or cathedral scenes.  Variations in colour and texture, effects of light, the mood of the landscape all reflect a relationship between artist and subject that has become almost legendary in the history of modern Australian art.

The present work dates from the beginning of Boyd’s Shoalhaven period and is of very fine quality.