Leaves flutter in the sunlight and clouds drift across the sky. A man carries a heavy load up a narrow country lane. His horse waits patiently on the adjoining road. This early work by the Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro demonstrates his ability to capture a particular place, in a particular season, at a particular time of day with extraordinary freshness and truth. The village portrayed here is Louveciennes, a dozen miles West of Paris along the Seine. Pissarro had lived there from 1869 to 1870, fleeing to London during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). Prussian troops occupied the village and sacked Pissarro’s home, destroying many of his canvases. Painted just months after the end of fighting, upon the artist’s return to France, this tranquil scene betrays no hint of the violence lately visited on its rustic setting.