La vachère au ruisseau These works were painted, like other watercolors and gouaches of the same period, in the countryside of Pontoise and Louveciennes; it was a practice at the time to move there in order to paint from life. Montfoucalt did so together with Pissarro, whom he met at l'Academie Suisse, where he learned the basics of painting; it was thanks to the latter's insistence that he joined the Impressionist group. Numerous published letters remain from this friendship, which offer a wealth of information about the period and artistic developments at the turn of the century. The landscape of "La vachère au ruisseau" can be found in the work "Les Enfants au bord du Ruisseau," also painted in 1871, in which the same trees and landscape can be recognized, with the presence of two shepherd children, one of whom is also visible in our gouache, on the right. These are undoubtedly two works conceived on the same day, in the same place and at times close to each other.