In this painting we can see an alley of the old Montsouris Park on the outskirts of Paris, not far from the Saint-Jacques Tower. The artist captured many views of this park in his paintings. It is obvious that he went there many times during his work at the customs tax administration. In Rousseau’s time, this district still had its half-rural look and offered a beautiful view over the picturesque Chaumont hills. This part of Paris was isolated from the rich city folk and aristocracy because of its bad reputation. Rousseau observed simple scenes of city life here. French soldiers wearing traditional red trousers and a nanny with a child are seen walking along the alley. A cavalry school was located in the park in those days. Rousseau made sketches directly from nature, but he finished his paintings in studio by memory. Treetops seem frozen like cylindrical bars amidst the airless landscape, which gives the atmosphere of this artwork an enigmatic quality.