Although Troyon was concerned predominantly with creating a natural scene, there is an almost religious tone to this landscape. Such scenes of a bountiful, rural homeland were greatly admired in France in the wake of the 1848 Revolution. One critic, writing in 1853, remarked that Troyon’s paintings of grazing cows reminded him ‘of those lush Normandy pastures where the animals sink knee deep in thick, fresh grass … [exuding] an abundance of life, a fresh flowing sap, that I cannot over-praise.’ Hugh Laird bought this picture from Arthur Tooth & Sons in 1899 for £4,300.