In the 1790s Turner made a series of tours throughout Britain. He was looking for Picturesque and historical subjects for watercolours that he intended to sell or show in exhibitions.

Turner had sketched Tintern Abbey, in South Wales, on a tour in 1792. The area was one of the most visited tourist spots in Britain. William Wordsworth also visited the area in these years. His poem, Tintern Abbey (1798) revealed the complex historical, political and emotional associations the ruin had for people at the time.