Pissarro and his family moved to Louveciennes in the spring of 1869, and he may have painted this picture shortly afterwards, or possibly in the spring of 1870. Only 30 minutes west of Paris by train, Louveciennes was an important location for early Impressionism, as it was one of the small towns and villages that were frequently visited in the late 1860s and early 1870s by the Impressionist painters.
Louveciennes itself is some distance away to the left, beyond the picture. The group of houses in the middle of the painting is the neighbouring village of Voisins, and part of the Marly aqueduct can be seen against the sky.
Pissarro has structured the landscape as a series of layered bands, with the road and a row of bushes or vines in the foreground and, in the distance, the hills and aqueduct. The picture’s soft tones and warm earthy colours show Corot’s influence upon Pissarro, although the loose fluid brushwork aligns it with Impressionism.
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Martin Davies, with additions and some revisions by Cecil Gould, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: French School: Early 19th Century, Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, etc.’, London 1970; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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