George Peacock specialised in creating striking images of Sydney Harbour, which appealed to the colony’s growing middle classes who viewed the harbour as a site of pleasure, recreation and beauty. This view depicts Vaucluse House and Vaucluse Bay on the left, and sweeps across Middle Harbour to Watsons Bay and the Heads on the right. This was a favourite composition of colonial artists.

Originally a stone cottage, Sir Henry Browne Hayes built Vaucluse House in 1805.