This painting was presented in London by the Agent-General of the Cape, Sir David Tenant, to the Duke and Duchess of York and Cornwall, (later King George V and Queen Mary) in December 1901. It was a gift of the inhabitants of the Somerset West Province of South Africa. The Duke and Duchess had visited the country earlier that year as part of their tour of the British Empire.

James Smith Morland was born in Liverpool and was descended from a family of artists that included George Morland (1763-1804). In 1888 he moved to the Cape to teach art; returning to his family in Kent from 1903-5, before settling in South Africa with his family. He was an able watercolourist and often painted what appear to be typically English landscapes from memory in South Africa.

False Bay lies on the south west coast of South Africa. It measures about 33 kilometres across and is surrounded by high rocky mountains on either side. The composition is made up of a series of diagonals, which emphasise the breadth and openness of the scene.

The frame is by Chapman Brothers of 241 King's Road, London.