‘Mr Roberts’ restraint makes the poetic view … most engagingly apparent.’ (A.R. Goring-Thomas, 1914)

Roberts first went to Lake Como in the summer of 1913, where he stayed with Fielding Nalder and his new wife Ruby (Hartl) in their late-eighteenth-century villa at the southern end of the lake. In this painting, Roberts emphasised the geometry of the scene, the triangular forms of the steep cliffs falling down to the lake, to the still glassy water, and the curved arc of the cliff behind, viewed through mist. It is a scene of peace and harmony.