Martín Rico was one of the leading Spanish landscape painters of the second half of the nineteenth-century. He was particularly interested in depicting tranquil stretches of water, and during his long stay in France he often painted the countryside around the rivers Seine and Marne near Paris. Here, using a very limited range of colours, he arranges the composition in parallel horizontal strips, and succeeds in conveying a sense of peaceful harmony. This silent and secluded scene stands out for its horizontal composition, which is barely altered by the verticality of some trees, and the use of light to create chiaroscuro tensions, bringing out the figures of the washerwomen and the river in front of the mass of trees and the city.

The work was acquired in 1867 and sent to the Museum of Fine Arts of Seville that same year. From there it was sent to the now-defunct Museum of Modern Art. After the Prado Museum recovered it, it was put on display at the Casón del Buen Retiro in 1982.