This painting is identified in the early catalogues of the Museum`s holdings with the landscape listed in the 1766 inventory of the collection of Isabella Farnese in the palace of La Granja, which, in turn, could be the landscape with shepherds by the hand of the Hermit (the nickname by which Herman van Swanevelt was known in Rome) recorded as being located in the Alcázar of Madrid in 1686, as quoted by Galera Mendoza (2001). Barghahn (1981), in turn, identifies it as one of the landscapes commissioned in Rome to decorate the Palace of the Buen Retiro and recorded in the inventory of 1701, but neither the measurements nor the theme coincide.

According to the handwritten label on the back, when the painting entered the Museum it was attributed to Van Swanevelt. However, in 1834 it was inventoried without attribution and in 1843 it was catalogued as an imitation of Jan Both. Later inventories and catalogues maintain this description until the general inventory of 1996, which again ascribes it to Van Swanevelt.

The scene unfolds on a path running between a high mountain side covered with lush vegetation and a leafy forest. The background is enclosed by lofty mountains. The current condition of the painting prevents it being properly assessed. However, the handling of the leaves on the trees and of the vegetation covering the mountain is characteristic of this artist and can be linked to his landscapes in the Galleria Doria Pamphilj in Rome. The X-ray image reveals no changes in the composition and shows that the figures are painted over the landscape. Their type is characteristic of the figures used by Van Swanevelt and corresponds to that of the characters found in Landscape with Wayfarers, Boy and Dog (P2140) and Landscape with Fisherman Family at Dusk (P2141). The iconographical motif of the woman carrying a bundle on her head is one of the most frequently repeated in the painter`s landscapes (Posada Kubissa, T.: Pintura holandesa en el Museo Nacional del Prado. Catálogo razonado, 2009, p. 316).