This picture was inspired by Church's second trip to South America in the spring of 1857. Church sketched prolifically throughout his nine weeks of travel in Ecuador, and many extant drawings and oil sketches contain elements found in this work. The picture was publicly unveiled in New York at Lyrique Hall, Broadway, on April 27, 1859. Subsequently moved to the gallery of the Tenth Street Studio Building, it was presented in a dark, curtained frame designed to look like a window and illuminated by carefully orchestrated lighting in a darkened chamber. The exhibition caused a sensation, and twelve to thirteen thousand people paid twenty-five cents apiece to see it. The picture was later shown in London and eight other American cities, where it was greatly admired as well.

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