Ben Ledi is a prominent mountain which rises above the plain of Stirling to the north of Callander and, like the surrounding area of the Trossachs, features in Sir Walter Scott’s poem The Lady of the Lake (1810). Glimpsed daily from Cameron’s house at Dun Eaglais in Kippen, the Ben became an iconic motif in his work including one of his most highly prized original etchings (see P 2319). Ben Ledi means ‘Hill of the Gods’ in Gaelic. It was a constant source of inspiration for Cameron, who painted it many times and in a variety of different seasons and atmospheres. In this picture Cameron adapted some of the compositional conventions of Japanese woodblock prints, both in the choice of a flattened perspective and the decorative deployment of silver birch trees as a framing device. A Hokusai print of Mount Fuji was among his later gifts to Perth Museum and Art Gallery.