The village of Arleux is close to Arras & Douai in north-east France. In the Spring of 1871 Corot left Paris & the upheaval of the Commune to stay with his friend & biographer Alfred Robaut at Douai. In June & July they rented a cottage at Arleux, where he painted a number of views. In the foreground of this atmospheric landscape the paint has been scratched with the wrong end of the brush.