Monsieur Henry, a cloth manufacturer and a friend of the artist’s father, commissioned this picture of his house and factory in Soissons, France. Corot also painted a view from the back of the house overlooking the spires of Soissons Cathedral; this painting is now in Otterlo, Holland. Regarding Corot as an amateur, Henry neglected to pay him for works that are now considered among the finest of the artist’s early career.