Working at Box Hill, Roberts captured a panoramic view, with warm light embracing the landscape at the end of the day. Many years later Arthur Streeton commented on Roberts’ sensitivity to the quiet stillness of dusk:

‘Before 1886 we were all rather attracted by the conventional aspect of the brilliant colour of the western sky at sunset. Roberts was the first to point out the exquisite and delicate variation in colour and tone of the eastern sky at sunset.’

The work’s poetic title and symbolist overtones reflect Roberts’ interest in English Romantic poetry.