Menton, known as 'la perle de la France' is situated on the Côte d'Azur close to the border with Italy. In March 1882 Victoria, and her youngest daughter Princess Beatrice, stayed in the Chalet des Rosiers in Menton for their first visit to the Riviera. English tourists had played a key role in in popularising the area. Access via the new railways and the visits of royalty such as Leopold II and Empress Eugenie, resulted in a huge influx of new visitors. At the beginning of the 1860s, when the poet Swinburne visited Menton to convalesce, about 4000 visitors stayed in Nice, and by 1879 the number had more than tripled. By choosing the Riviera as a holiday resort, and not just as a place to recover from illness, Queen Victoria set the seal on its reputation, which lasts to the present day.

This painting repeats a design by Edouard Rischgitz; RCIN 407882; See also the companion painting of the West Bay, by the same artist (who appears to sign their name 'Floience') RCIN 408915. It is a view from a stone terrace across the bay with small yachts sailing on the water, on the far side of which the town clusters, low moutains behind; steps lead from the terrace to the left towards trees below, with a creeper-covered Ionic column to the right.