It is generally agreed that this was the painting exhibited as 'A Study, in March' at the Royal Academy in 1855 and inspired by lines from Wordsworth's 'Excursion', book 1: 'When the primrose flower peeped forth to give an earnest of the spring.' The primrose and harebells in the foreground and the ewe and two lambs on the ridge, herald the arrival of spring, though the trees are still bare, their branches picked out in sharp detail against the blue sky. The microscopic detail epitomises the Pre-Raphaelite approach to landscape painting, which sacrificed perspective to careful finish. Inchbold exhibited a companion work, 'Mid-Spring', in 1856 (private collection).