This watercolour was produced for the Arundel Society. The Society was founded in 1848 with the aim of promoting a greater knowledge of art through the publication of literary works and reproductions of works of art. The subjects for reproduction were selected by a Council consisting of people influential in the art world, including John Ruskin, the renowned author and art critic. Works were chosen for copying, watercolours were made, examined by the Council and then forwarded to the printers. Members of the Society paid annual subscriptions for which they received a selection of prints. By 1866 the Society had well over two thousand members and its prints adorned many a Victorian household, framed and hung as wall decoration in both secular and religious settings.

In 1867 the Society commissioned a professional artist, Adolf Gnauth, to make watercolour copies of medieval tombs in Verona and Venice. Gnauth made thirteen drawings in all for the Society six of which were published and issued to members. The Society made little use of photography. The colour print was more popular than the photograph and doubts were also raised in the 1850s over the permanence of photographic prints. However in 1877 a similar project was initiated this time using photographs taken by Stephen Thompson to record the tombs.