While it was common for the artists of the time to go to Italy, they only very rarely went on to Greece. However, during his first visit to Italy in the middle of the 1830s, Rørbye went to Greece on a visit lasting seven months, later travelling as far as Constantinople. His diary from the journey indicates that this picture was partly painted in the open directly overlooking the motif. The central feature is the Greek figures sitting on the rocky mound in the foreground. In the middle distance the Hephaisteion Temple on the outskirts of Athens can be seen, and in the background rise the Lycabettus and Hymettus mountains.
Rørbye’s companion on his visit to Greece was the architect M.G. Bindesbøll, who was later to be responsible for the building of Thorvaldsens Museum.
