In 1859, while staying in Campbeltown, the artist began work on an untitled picture on the theme of childhood and mortality. His setting was the graveyard of the ruined church of Kilchousland. Two sketches were submitted to the Glaswegian collector Robert Craig who purchased the finished painting and proposed its title. The second sketch was later acquired by Caw, son-in-law of McTaggart, author of a major critical biography of the artist and first Director of the National Galleries of Scotland.