Although Monticelli had been trained to work in a neoclassical style by his teachers at the Ecole d'Art in Marseille, when he moved to Paris in 1846 he admired the bold rich colours and surface impasto of Delacroix's oil sketches and abandoned his previously academic style. The upward perspective in this work conveys the steepness of the incline, while the contrasting colours and rich surface texture create a vivid sense of movement and light. Monticelli’s work was greatly admired by younger artists, such as Vincent Van Gogh.