Lear toured the remote mountains of the Epirus region in north-west Greece in spring 1849. He was overwhelmed by the mountain landscape, writing that ‘a more mighty scene of grandeur can hardly be conceived’. Access to the village of Suli was along a narrow track beside a precipice; Lear’s choice of viewpoint in this superb drawing emphasises the sublime drama and peril of this approach. He includes notes about details and colours of the landscape all across the sketch and a small compositional sketch at the bottom of the sheet, which is annotated with the word ‘abyss’.