Louis-alphonse David (1798-1849) The Moulin De La Butte Aux Cailles, Paris, Signed Drawing

Louis-Alphonse DAVID (1798-1849) 
Le Moulin de la Butte aux Cailles, Paris,  (The Mill at la Butte aux Cailles)
signed lower left
Pencil and white chalk on paper 
22,5 x 36 cm
Framed : 40,5 x 55 cm

Louis-Alphonse David is known for a relatively small body of work, including portraits and large compositions. In any case, in this work he shows a remarkable mastery of drawing, with particularly suggestive and subtle plays of light and shadow.

The Butte aux Cailles, now part of the 13th arrondissement of Paris, was a hill covered in meadows, vineyards and woods, built with several windmills and overlooking the river Bièvre. It was named after Pierre Caille, who acquired it in 1543.
It did not become part of the city of Paris until 1860.
Today, it's a district renowned for its special charm, but unlike Montmartre, there are no windmills here any more.
This drawing is also of great historical interest as it provides a very interesting snapshot of what this area looked like in the first part of the 19th century, when Paris was still partly in the countryside.