Ville d'Avray, some ten miles from Paris, was to provide Corot with an important subject for his paintings throughout his career. Corot's father bought a country home in Ville d'Avray in 1817, and Corot never tired of painting this place which had meant so much to him as a youth. He was to record trees, ponds and rivers around Ville d'Avray up until the last months of his life. Corot's landscapes beginning in 1850 start to take on a silvery feather-like quality, a trait that would characterize all of his subsequent paintings.

Our painting shows a view of Corot's gardener's cottage at Ville d'Avray, easily identifiable because of its turquoise shutters. It may have be dated to the 1860's. For related versions of this composition, see A. Robaut, l'Oeuvre de Corot, Paris, 1965, nos. 934, 935, 1470, 1471 and 1707.

This painting had been examined and authenticated by Martin Dieterle and will be inlcuded in the fifth supplement of the catalogue raisonné on Corot by Matin Dieterle and André Pacitti.