Born in the hill town of Sansepolcro near Arezzo, Remigio Cantagallina spent the greater part of his career in Florence. Perhaps a pupil of the Medici court artists Giulio Parigi and Jacopo Ligozzi, he is best known for his closely observed views of villages and figured landscapes. He journeyed to the Netherlands and France in 1612 and 1613, a trip documented by many drawings, but he created even more views of Tuscany. Cantagallina was also an influential printmaker of theatrical scenes and landscapes and trained the well-known printmakers Jacques Callot and Stefano della Bella.

This view of a walled Tuscan hillside and buildings includes an artist sketching at the base of the tree at lower left. Leading to a church in the severe style, ramped streets border a palace with loggia and a street-side shrine. Like the church of San Miniato al Monte above Florence, the church depicted may be the center of a monastic community, with a dormitory-like building at left and a garden with a pergola at right. The carefully composed scene is framed by two foreground trees bending gracefully in opposite directions.