Lawson's Chelsea pictures had been painted in rather sombre tones; in "A Hymn to Spring" (1871–72; Santa Barbara Museum of Art) which was rejected by the Academy, he turned to a more colourful approach, helped by work done in North Wales and Ireland. Early in 1874 he made a short tour in the Netherlands, Belgium and Paris; and in the summer he painted the Kent countryside in his large "The Hop-Gardens of England" (1874; Tate, London). This was much praised at the Academy of 1876.