Cooke made numerous trips throughout Europe and North Africa. In 1860, in company with Robert Bateman, he undertook a journey around Spain towards Tangier. A new, more luminous quality began to pervade the colours in his work. The light of the Mediterranean can be seen even in his pencil sketches, which show clarity and the sense of exoticism that Spain awakened in European travellers.

After staying first at Barcelona and Tarragona, Cooke and Bateman went to Tortosa in order to take the stagecoach to Valencia. From here they made a detour to Madrid where they met John Phillip R.A., who was also travelling and painting in Spain. Cooke recorded their delight at the collections in Madrid of works by Velázquez, Titian and Veronese and also enthused about the collections of the Royal Armoury, making some sketches there. After returning to Valencia they continued to Alicante, and then to Murcia, where Cooke made this drawing.

The picture shows the moment of the ascent of the procession in the festival of the Virgin of Fuensanta, the patron Saint of Murcia. The scene takes place on the Old Bridge over the River Segura, identifiable from the inscription referring to the central church ‘Pórtico de la Virgen de los Peligros [Portico of the Virgin of Dangers]’. The church, with its neoclassical façade (the work of the architect Carlos C. Ballester), is of the city’s most emblematic sites and continues to be considered an important symbol of faith for the people of Murcia. In the background are the two towers of the church La Iglesia del Carmen, which is now the Museum of Religious Art (Museo de la Sangre). The church was built on the site of an ancient mosque, which was converted into the Hermitage of St Vincent. The construction of the present church was begun in 1721 by the Carmelite architect Jose Chover. The artist has numbered the drawing ‘62’ in the bottom right corner.