This large bodycolour is an unusual work by Smith, who rarely worked in this medium on this scale. Smith served in India from 1805-1830, in the Bengal Engineers. The Surveyor General lauded him as ‘by far the best draughtsman I am acquainted with. His masterly rapid pencil particularly qualifies him for survey of the Frontier, as he will be able to delineate the passes and surrounding country with the greatest correctness.’ (Survey of India Records, New Delhi, 1947, 126, p.134). There are Indian sketchbooks and drawings by Smith in the India Office Library. Many of his field sketches were worked up into large oils, lively works punctuated with fine detail and colour which establish him as the leading topographical artist active in India in the 1820s and early 1830s.