On first seeing Belvoir Castle with its towers, turrets and crenellations, it might be imagined to be castle from a fairy tale. Pevsner describes it as 'a romantic dream of a castle picturesquely placed on a hill side and lavishly appointed.' (see Leicestershire and Rutland, in The Buildings of England series by N Pevsner, Penguin, 1970).   In fact it dates from 1800 when the fifth Duke of Rutland, influenced by Romanticism, decided to remodel his rather austere house into the shape of a medieval castle. Much of the design work was done by James Wyatt and his sons, and later by the Duke's chaplain, John Thoroton.   In 1816 a fire destroyed much of Wyatt's work.

It was also the year in which JMW Turner painted the castle from an unusual viewpoint to the east. We see it from across a wooded valley, with Roe deer grazing in the foreground.   From behind Belvoir characteristically rises a rainbow.

The influence of Claude Lorrain's pastoral landscapes on Turner is well documented. Dancing peasants were often placed by Claude in the foreground of his pictures, giving a reassign sense that all was well in the countryside, and hinting at Arcadian precedents.