In June 1870, Bazille wrote in a letter to his father: "I have just about finished a large landscape (eclogue).

"[1] The Franco-Prussian War erupted only two weeks later, and Bazille volunteered for service in a Zouave regiment in August.

[2] Paysage au bord du Lez is the "large landscape" referred in Bazille's letter to his father.

In his letter, he specifically uses the word eclogue, which is usually defined as a poem in a classical style on a pastoral subject.

However, Bazille's painting, while showing the bucolic sun-drenched and dry landscapes near his native Montpellier, is devoid of figures or any sign of human activity aside from a narrow meandering footpath.