The Ramparts at Aigues-Mortes

Painted in 1867 and now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, this view of the ancient fortifications at Aigues-Mortes shows the complete circuit of the town's medieval walls from outside, a panoramic complement to the gateway views Bazille painted from within. Aigues-Mortes was built as a royal port by Louis IX in the 1240s and remained almost perfectly intact by Bazille's day. The subject combined historical resonance with the compositional challenge of rendering a long, low horizontal structure in the flat light of the Camargue. Bazille's attachment to this site—rooted in regional identity—gives these paintings an emotional specificity beyond mere landscape.

The long horizontal format of the walls is set against a broad, luminous sky. The painting demonstrates Bazille's sensitivity to the quality of southern light—clear, even, and warm—as it falls on ancient weathered stone. The foreground is characteristically simplified.