Boudin painted various views of Caudebec-en-Caux, a small town on the banks of the River Seine between Rouen and Le Havre. As in his view of a street in Dordrecht, Boudin delights in showing the day-to-day life of a small street – a man leads a grey horse, the women are busy washing clothes. Boudin found small oil paintings like this easy to sell, although they only sold for a small amount of money. This work was bought from Boudin by the Parisian dealer Durand Ruel for 200 French francs. It was then sold in December 1891 to a collector living in Canada, and eventually purchased by the Scottish dealer Alexander Reid. He sold it to William Burrell.