Asai Chu was born in Kobikicho, Edo, the eldest son of a samurai serving the Sakura domain. He entered the Kobu Bijutsu Gakko, the first art school founded by the Meiji government, where he studied with Italian artist Antonio Fontanesi, receiving a thorough education in Western art. Under the guidance of Fontanesi, who worked in the style of the Barbizon school, Asai created works filled with admiration for laborers at work in farming and other occupations, in natural and rural settings.
Asai went to France for the first time in 1900, at the age of forty-four, on the occasion of the Paris Expo. He painted this work, regarded as his French period masterpiece, at Grez-sur-Loing, near Paris, which he visited while studying in France. Grez is an historic village on the Loing river, near the forest of Fontainebleau, that still includes an old bridge, castle, and church. In addition to Asai, Kuroda Seiki, Wada Eisaku, and many artists from northern Europe and North America gathered there, forming an artists’ colony. Asai visited Grez four times during his two years in Europe and is said to have painted the area more often than any other Japanese artist. He produced this painting in October, 1901, during his fourth visit to Grez. While he directs our gaze to the laborer, a washerwoman, he is more focused on depicting the reflections in the water and the light. Asai, having discovered new artistic approach in Grez, went on to create many beautiful landscapes overflowing with color.