Sannois is two miles to the north of Argenteuil, just outside Paris. Bidauld’s sketch was probably begun in the open air but finished in the studio. Such fresh, preparatory oil-sketches represented the unofficial side of the classical landscape tradition, of which Bidauld was a major exponent. Indeed, in the latter part of his life he was reviled as a reactionary figure by the younger generation of landscapists, such as Théodore Rousseau.