Francis Towne was based at Ambleside, on the north side of Lake Windermere, during a Lake District tour in 1786. He produced some beautiful watercolours there, including this study of a waterfall.

Made on the spot at close range, it eliminates both foreground and sky. Two barely discernible figures on the far left-hand rock provide a sense of scale. Towne often inscribed his drawings with the time and date of their making.