Arques-la-Bataille

A wide river valley under an overcast sky, painted almost entirely in greys and greens. A still sheet of water crosses the middle of the canvas; the far bank is a low line of fields and trees, and a bank of tall reeds leans into the picture from the foreground. The colours sit close together in value, so the landscape reads as a few quiet bands of tone.

At five by six and a half feet the canvas is unusually large for a scene this spare. The paint is thin and even, the reeds drawn in quick calligraphic strokes over the smooth water, and the horizon set high so that water and meadow carry most of the surface.