The Quay de Paris in Rouen

In 1831 Victor Hugo's novel Notre-Dame de Paris made the Gothic cathedral a romantic cause, and painters went looking for medieval towers to set behind their river views. Johannes Bosboom was 22 when he signed and dated this canvas in 1839, and he found his towers in Rouen, the Normandy port on the Seine. Along the Quai de Paris tall houses crowd shoulder to shoulder at the water's edge, boats lie moored, a wooden landing stage floats on the river and small figures go about their business. Above it all rise the towers of the cathedral, big enough to make the whole row of houses look small. The Rijksmuseum bought the painting in 1997.