Landscape painter Gustave Madelain was born in Charly (now Charly-sur-Marne) in 1867. Though little is known of Madelain’s education, he debuted at the Salon des Indépendents in 1907 and was by all accounts successful. He was drawn to busy ports along the Seine — particularly in Rouen, L'Havre and Paris — and acquired a reputation as a painter of river docks, though his oeuvre also includes street scenes and cityscapes. Note the subdued palette and vigorous brushwork applied to this view of modern Paris: A small crowd gathers by a barge, cranes dot the skyline and smoke rises from a boat on the river. This industrial imagery is enhanced by the geometry of the piece: the underside of the bridge serves as a framing device, its shape echoed in another bridge in the background.