Marville often asked peopleeither an assistant or, here, probably an employee of the parkto pose in his photographs. These figures frequently were intended to illustrate the park's attractions, but in this photograph the solitary man gazing off into the distance injects a somber note conveying inertia and isolation. The bridge in the background connected the elegant Bois de Boulogne to Suresnes, a rapidly industrializing working-class town located just outside the city limits.
