...a sketch of Samer 1815

This ink sketch of the market place at Samer, in Normandy, Northern France, is dated 1815, and is probably originally from a traveller's sketch book, possibly someone British, if the pencil inscription is contemporary with the drawing.

The date is significant because 1815 was the period of Napoleon's so-called Hundred Days, which culminated in his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium on 18 June. This picture may date from just after this time, when many travelled to the newly liberated French capital, and may well have passed through Samer.

It shows a gentle scene; a woman carrying a pail, a lady holding a child, who seems to have a second child attached to her dress by a cord. A man lies prone, reading a book, together with others.  And behind them is the church of St Martins, to which unusually abuts a string of houses. One interesting difference. The artist shows a square bell tower, whilst the ancient shape is seemingly octagonal. A bit of poetic licence perhaps?

It is a scene that has changed little in two hundred years, as photos on the town website indicate:

http://www.ville-samer.fr/