By 1969 Moore was dealing with civic commissions with increasingly frequency and for many years had been working out his position on the inherent problems of placing sculpture in an architectural setting. This concrete piece is one of several versions of a work for such a location which he also realised in bronze, black marble and fibreglass. A further example was also carved in Rio Serra, a white marble from Monte Altissimo, the mountain quarries used by Michelangelo. This was famously sited overlooking the city of Florence in a dramatic exhibition held at the Forte di Belvedere in 1972.