View of the Pont Neuf and of the Western Point of the Île de la Cité from the Banks of the Seine

Also from 1870 and also held at the Clark Art Institute, this view of the Pont Neuf and the western tip of the Île de la Cité belongs to a pair of urban documentary paintings that Harpignies made of Paris in what would prove a historically charged year. The Pont Neuf — the oldest standing bridge in Paris, completed in 1607 — and the Île de la Cité with its dense medieval fabric were among the most recognisable views in European art, painted by countless artists from Flemish vedutisti to Impressionists. For Harpignies, this subject combined his familiar interest in water and bridges — the Pont Neuf is above all a structure relating to the Seine — with the particular urban scale and architectural richness of central Paris. The long title specifying the viewpoint from the banks of the Seine indicates the careful topographical precision that distinguished documentary urban landscape from more generalised city views. Painted in the same year as the Louvre view, it documents Harpignies's sustained engagement with the Parisian cityscape before the disruptions of war.

The Seine in the foreground provides Harpignies's familiar compositional element — reflective water — while the urban architecture beyond demands more precise, descriptive handling than his rural landscapes typically required. The characteristic tree-lined quays combine his facility with natural forms and architectural description.