While not written with direct reference to this work, the following diary entry shows McEntee’s poetic sense, something clearly revealed in the atmospherics of a painting like this:
“Wednesday, December 23, 1874 – It snowed about three inches yesterday and cleared off towards evening. Last night was one of the most beautiful moonlight nights I ever experienced. I went down to the Strand to mail a letter and every common thing was glorified by the passing effects of the storm and the moonlight. I want to try to paint something from it for it was very pictorial. The shadows on the snow from the leafless trees were about as distinctly defined as in sunlight and objects in shadow were full of detail. The sky was a soft grey with a hint of blue with hazy distances and a soft subdued splendor filling the whole landscape.”
