Corot began this landscape in the area around Arras in north-east France, but the exact location is imprecise. It is typical of Corot’s later pastoral scenes, which were admired for their dream-like atmosphere and poetic evocation of nature. When it was first exhibited at the Scottish National Gallery in 1920 it was described by the critic for The Scotsman as ‘amongst the most perfect things ever painted by this great master of rhythmic design and elegiac sentiment’. Indeed, it was Dr John Kirkhope’s favourite painting and had pride of place in the drawing room of his Edinburgh home.