This painting is of the Quai des Pâquis in Geneva, ca. 1850, by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, a fine painter neglected then and now who took a modest view of his talent and influence (he is considered a progenitor of Impressionism). “Men should not puff themselves up with pride," he said, no doubt over a ballon de rouge, "whether they are emperors adding this or that province to their empires or painters who gain a reputation.”

There are about a half million more people in and around the Pâquis district today than there were in Corot's day; the bucolic atmosphere is one of this painting's charms. Like seeing old photos of the leafy village that was once Montmartre.