The foreground buildings are reminiscent of those at the Bristol Hot Wells; compare the
Back View of the Hot Wells that he worked on in the early 1790s (Tate
D00389; Turner Bequest XXIII O), while the church spire appearing over the hill is similar to that in Tate
D01902 (Turner Bequest XLIV Z), which possibly represents Crickhowell. There are also echoes of the scenes of shipping in the Avon Gorge that he noted in his
Cyfarthfa sketchbook in 1798 (see Tate
D01663; Turner Bequest XLI 30). However, the distant plain is in fact too wide to be any of the river valleys of South Wales, and the large castle is evidently based on Windsor, though it may incorporate elements of Chepstow and Cilgerran, which Turner drew in the
Hereford Court sketchbook (Tate
D01261,
D01342,
D01279,
D01280; Turner Bequest XXXVIII 11a, 88, 28, 28a) and the
Dynevor Castle sketchbook (
D01491–D01492; Turner Bequest XL 17a–18). Another fantasy composition dating from about this time is the
Capriccio with the Dome of St Peter’s, Rome, Seen through a ruined Triumphal Arch (Tate
D36667; Turner Bequest CCCLXXX 18), which is however a more comprehensible pastiche of an Italian tourist’s
veduta in gouache, the typical medium of the souvenir views that Turner imitates there.