'When summer comes in her glory and brave the whole earth blows,/ when colours burn and perfumes impassion the gladden’d air/ then methinks thy laughter seeks me on every breeze that goes/ and I feel thy breathing warmth about me everywhere', wrote the Australian poet Christopher Brennan in ‘When Summer comes in her glory’ (1895)

In Summer pastoral, Long also evoked the glory of the Australian summer, when colours burn and the smell of grass impassions the air. His painting is an imaginative representation of nature. It appears to be a simple study of a group of tall, leafy trees and bright sunlight, visible through their arched branches, drenching the paddocks.

The painting, however, is about more than this; it is a pastoral, an imaginative translation of the specific scene that Long viewed, a reverie capturing the spirit and beauty of the landscape. Beneath the trees there is a shepherdess, wearing a blue skirt and white shawl. Her sheep graze in the sunlight of the golden fields. She is the Spirit of nature, the guardian not only of her sheep but also of the sprites of the field, and the arch between the trees is like an opening to another world.

Summer pastoral is possibly one of two versions of ‘Pastoral sunlight’ that were first shown in the 1908 ‘Society of Artists exhibition’ (18, or 19).

'When summer comes in her glory and brave the whole earth blows,/ when colours burn and perfumes impassion the gladden’d air/ then methinks thy laughter seeks me on every breeze that goes/ and I feel thy breathing warmth about me everywhere', wrote the Australian poet Christopher Brennan in ‘When Summer comes in her glory’ (1895)

In Summer pastoral, Long also evoked the glory of the Australian summer, when colours burn and the smell of grass impassions the air. His painting is an imaginative representation of nature. It appears to be a simple study of a group of tall, leafy trees and bright sunlight, visible through their arched branches, drenching the paddocks.

The painting, however, is about more than this; it is a pastoral, an imaginative translation of the specific scene that Long viewed, a reverie capturing the spirit and beauty of the landscape. Beneath the trees there is a shepherdess, wearing a blue skirt and white shawl. Her sheep graze in the sunlight of the golden fields. She is the Spirit of nature, the guardian not only of her sheep but also of the sprites of the field, and the arch between the trees is like an opening to another world.

Summer pastoral is possibly one of two versions of ‘Pastoral sunlight’ that were first shown in the 1908 ‘Society of Artists exhibition’ (18, or 19).