Part of New Zealand's protected Fiordland, this famous scenic attraction is as unspoilt today as it was when painted by Hoyte in the late 1870s. Milford Sound is the grandest and most northerly of the fiords indenting the south western coastline of the South Island, twenty five kilometres south west of the Hollyford River. This narrow fifteen kilometre canyon occupies the front portion of a glacial trough. It cuts into surrounding mountains through which the sea flows when the glacial ice melts.

In a climax of natural beauty, numerous waterfalls cascade from sheer rock walls rising vertically from the sea. Nearest to the head of Milford Sound are the Bowen Falls and midway along the eastern wall, the Stirling Falls. One of the highest mountains rising straight up from the sea is Mitre Peak, described by British writer Rudyard Kipling as the eighth wonder of the world, it towers majestically above the rainforested mound known as the Footstool with Mount Phillips to the left. Opposite Mitre Peak, rising from the eastern shore is the Lion and further up the ridge, Mt Pembroke.

John Barr Clark Hoyte was considered the leading New Zealand watercolourist of his time. Painting in the Romantic English style, Hoyte travelled widely throughout the colony. In 1877 he circumnavigated the South Island, with particular attention being given to exploration of the coast of Fiordland. The work offered here, with its readily identifiable brushstrokes, subtlety and refinement of palette is the embodiment of 'Hoyteness'.