This bucolic landscape would have been a definite antidote to the reality of Victorian industrialisation that surrounded even the wealthy in their urban homes. In the middle of the painting two figures gaze at the moon, within a setting filled with sentiments of the sublime and the seductively mystical power of nature.

A homely cottage emits a welcoming glow to its occupants returning from a hard day’s toil. In the distance, the steeple of a village church is captured in the glare of the rising moon and the whole scene is gracefully framed by majestic trees.