François Diday (1802-77) was instructed by Constantin Hierzler before entering the Ecole de Dessin des Beaux-Arts in Geneva. By 1830 he was in Paris, where he assisted Baron Gros, and copied works in the Louvre. His works, exhibited in Turin, Vienna, Paris and Switzerland, won him several medals and distinctions. In 1840 he won official acclaim, when his painting Evening in the Valley (1848, destroyed) was bought by Louis-Philippe; two years later he was awarded the cross of the Legion of Honour for his painting, Lake Brienz (or The Bathers). The Fondation Diday, set up with generous funds left by the artist to the city of Geneva, was established to encourage young artists and to acquire their work.

The Canton de Valais, one of the southernmost cantons of Switzerland, is in effect one continuous valley flanked by the Bernese and Valais mountain ranges. The waterfall depicted may be the Pissevache, which is fed by the River Salanfe. Alpine landscape with a chain of mountains on the right, silhouetted against a stormy sky; a waterfall cascades from a crevasse in the middleground; in the foreground a herdsman and cattle are skirting a lake or pool; in the background one peak is sunlit, visible amidst the clouds.

There is a version of this painting in the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva. A lithograph was published by Lemercier, Paris, in 1857.