At the private view of Severn’s exhibition at the Fine Art Society in 1892, where our picture was shown, a reporter from the Morning Leader noticed ‘Miss Kate Greenaway [88 years old at the time], whose kindly eyes beamed through her glasses as she was taken by Mrs Severn to see her favourite picture, a fine sunset effect from Esthwaite Water.’

The critic of the Illustrated London News had this to say about the exhibition: ‘... we find that Mr Severn reaches something higher in his treatment of mountains and clouds, especially of the Lake country, and those who wish to see him at his best should study carefully such scenes as [two other pictures, and ours] ... the fine cloud effect over Wetherlam, as seen from Esthwaite Water.’ Severn, whose father was a painter and a friend of Keats, married Ruskin’s distant cousin, ward and heir, Joan Ruskin Agnew, in 1871. They lived at Brantwood, Ruskin’s house at Coniston, a brisk walk from Esthwaite Water, where this picture was painted, for many years, and were effectively his housekeepers. It has been said of Arthur Severn that ‘he made a kind of holocaust of his own genius in the service of Ruskin.’