When Fred Williams returned to Australia in 1956 after studying in London he abandoned his early figurative painting in favour of landscape. Williams not only succeeded in his portrayal of the Australian landscape but he also made an original contribution to this tradition. His paintings portray a monotonous landscape without focal point in which drab browns and earthy greens are dominant.

The landscape in which the red fox has been captured is typical of Williams's Upwey landscapes, with its high horizontal line and tilted, flattened land with abstract touches of paint that signify vegetation.