The Escaut River in Antwerp

In the winter of 1870, war with Prussia emptied Paris of painters. Monet crossed to London. Boudin, then in his mid-forties, went north to Belgium instead, encouraged by his dealer, who told him marine scenes sold well there. That is how he came to be standing on the quays of Antwerp, painting the Escaut, the French name for the river the Flemish call the Scheldt. It was one of the busiest working ports in Europe, and he kept it that way on the panel, low horizon, masts and hulls strung across the water, most of the picture given over to the wide grey northern sky he was famous for handling. Corot had called him the king of skies, and the young Monet had learned from him that a picture could be finished outdoors, in front of the thing itself. He signed this one plainly in a corner as Boudin, Anvers, giving the city its French name.