The Hôtel de Ville, Paris

Boys moved to Paris by 1824, working initially as an engraver, then embarking on a career as a watercolour painter, probably as a result of his friendship with Richard Parkes Bonington (1802-1828). He remained in Paris until 1837, and following his return to England, published a selection of his views in Picturesque Architecture in Paris, Ghent, Rouen, etc., London, 1839.

The present lot is characteristic of the watercolours of his maturity, with its elegant palette and the pencil lines of the buildings visible under the washes, to give form and solidity to the building. Unusually for Boys there are no other recorded versions of this watercolour.