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, where Corot occupied a small room on the third floor overlooking the lake. 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. Even though he often travelled to other villages to paint and sketch, he created an impressive body of work at this rural location.

In the present lot Corot perfectly captures the perspective of the figure travelling on the winding wooded path alongside the Étang Neuf against the figures conversing in the foreground. The moving figure also acts to balance the inclusion of the house which can be glimpsed through the trees to the left hand side of the composition.
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.

Fame came to Corot during the mid-1860s, when his annual contributions of landscapes to the Salon met with wide acclaim from both critics and the public alike. He showed seven important paintings at the Exposition universelle of 1867 in Paris for which he received a medal and the title of Officier de la Légion d'Honneur. The Parisian dealer Alphonse Cadart had also included ten Corots in a group exhibition of French painting which he organized and sent to America the year before. This exhibition was to play an integral role in introducing Corot’s work to audiences in New York, Boston and Philadelphia.
Collectors clamoured at Corot's door in response and the artist was hard pressed to meet the increased demand for his landscapes.