A sail barge and other shipping beneath a bridge, Northern France

The present drawing was probably executed in circa 1823. At this time Bonington was living in Paris and increasingly experimenting with the use of sepia wash. In 1823 a commission to produce illustrations for a project titled Excursions sur les côtes et dans les ports de France allowed him to undertake a second tour of northern France, during which it seems likely this drawing was produced in one of the coastal towns of Normandy or Picardy.
We are grateful to Patrick Noon for his help in suggesting a location and date for the present drawing.