Fountains Abbey is the largest of the ruined abbeys that are characteristic of the picturesque tradition of the English landscape. Following the dissolution of the monastery in 1539, its stones were ransacked and reused by property-owners in nearby constructions. Frith's image of women strolling pleasurably among the ivy-covered walls solicits an aesthetic and sentimental response, obscuring the memory of bitter religious conflict that lead to the abbeys' downfall.

The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco have several Frith works online