A Canal Lock with Poplars

This drawing might be a depiction of the lock at Pontoise, a location on the river Oise just north of Paris that also inspired four of Pissarro's oil paintings (Ralph E. Shikes, Pissarro, his life and work. New York: 1980, p. 79). Pissarro moved to Pontoise after he returned to England following the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71. In Pontoise, Pissarro worked alongside Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Mary Cassatt (1845-1926), and Paul Cézanne (1839-1906). This sheet is signed at the lower right corner with the artist's initials.