This scene was painted during the years that George Inness spent living in Montclair, New Jersey. During this period, Inness painted many landscapes from his imagination.

In this atmospheric scene, the tiny figure at the center of the composition serves to heighten a sense of the dramatic scale and density of the surrounding foliage, through which only glimmers of sky and water are visible. Filled with lush green trees and grasses, the composition draws inspiration from the French Barbizon genre of "sous bois,” or “under the trees.” In these depictions of the Forest of Fontainebleau, the viewer is situated deep within—and beneath—a light-dappled woodland or forest canopy.