The present drawing is from a group of landscape drawings that was previously attributed to Claude. Most were drawn on blue paper, hence the name given to the artist, and are of the same provenance: von Fries, Lawrence and Esdaile. The drawings differ in handling from those of Claude, especially in the use of the wash; the group was attributed by Marcel Röthlisberger to an anonymous artist working in the circle of Grimaldi in the 1650s. Most of the sites depicted are in or around Rome, and one of the drawings shows Piazza Navona without the Church of Sant'Agnese, and thus can be dated between 1649 and 1652.
Although the group has sometimes been given to Gaspard Dughet, the brother-in-law of Poussin, that attribution has not generally been accepted. Nevertheless the note 'rouge', on the hill in the background of the present drawing, shows that the artist was French.