This highly compressed but intricately detailed and densely populated view of Edinburgh from Calton Hill was made as an illustration for Fisher's 'Illustrations to the Waverley Novels', 1836-7. Turner based it on material gathered during earlier visits to Scotland, particularly those in 1801 and 1822. Walter Scott, the author of the 'Waverley Novels', complained of Turner's tendency to include 'highlanders in every Scottish scene'.