This image may be set in the Zone, an area beyond Paris proper but within the city limits that was neglected between 1871 and 1929. While construction in the Zone was forbidden, migrant workers and travelers lived in the area, building houses and businesses. Here, Wilcox seems to have depicted a road leading through the Zone and into the city. Clearly, the area is not bustling: the street is blocked by an unloading cart in front of a building that emerges from the side of a hill.
