Camille Pissarro is a pivotal figure in the development of French painting during the second half of the nineteenth century. Among his contemporaries were Manet, Degas, Monet, Gauguin and Cezanne, Pissarro was a commanding presence with a particular alertness to the most avant-garde painterly developments of the time.

During the mid-1870s, Pissarro and his family made several visits to one of the artist's closest friends, the painter Ludovic Piette, whose large country estate at Montfoucault between Normandy and Brittany provided a welcome haven for the artist during difficult times. While the subjects he depicted were no different from elsewhere, the colours of his landscapes executed at Montfoucault were often much brighter and fresher than those done in other areas, possibly as a result of the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean.

‘Etude pour la batterie à Montfoucault’ is exemplary of this period in the artist’s career and was produced during a particularly traumatic year. In April of 1874 Pissarro’s nine-year old daughter Jeanne (Minette) died of a respiratory infection. Despite his grief, Pissarro worked frenetically and travelled frequently to Paris to work on the Impressionist’s first group show.

The initial exhibition of the ‘Société Anonyme Coopérative des Artistes, Peintres, Sculpteurs, Graveurs’ etc opened on 15th April and one hundred and sixty-five works were shown. Louis Leroy of Le Charivari satirically dubbed the artists ‘Impressionist’ and in defiance, the painters adopted the pejorative epithet. The general reaction was hostile and due to economic crisis in France, Durand-Ruel was forced to suspend all payments to the artists. In July, Pissarro’s third son, Felix was born. In October, Pissarro’s family visited the estate at Montfoucault and the artist completed no less than twenty paintings, among the studies for which is this luminous pastel work.