This painting – with its classical, idealized scene, its meticulous brushwork and large format – belongs to an older tradition in landscape painting. It was made after a journey to Italy and was shown at Harpignies’ debut at the Paris Salon in 1853. Soon, however, he abandoned this style of work and converted to the more realistic style of the Barbizon school. This group included artists such as Jean François Millet and Charles-François Daubigny. Harpignies’ oeuvre thus illustrates the new orientation in French landscape painting in the mid-1800s.