French artist Edouard Léon Cortès captures the famed booksellers who ply their wares along the banks of the Seine in this oil on canvas. Known as bouquinistes, these booksellers are part of a long tradition that dates back to the 16th century, when market owners lined the famed Parisian river. Today, these booksellers have become a fixture on both the left and right banks of the Seine, thus leading the river to be described as "the only river in the world that runs between two bookshelves." Cortès perfectly evokes the vitality of the quaint atmosphere of these famed merchants, whom he captures on a crisp autumn day.

Cortès devoted his career to bringing the spectacle de la rue to life on canvas. His paintings express the romance and energy of a bygone Paris, and the fashionable boulevards of La Belle Époque have forever been immortalized in his oeuvre. Dubbed the "Parisian Poet of Painting," Cortès possessed the uncanny ability to portray the very essence of his beloved city through the passing seasons and years. Though he painted the same streets time and time again, each work is unique in its narrative, perspective and atmosphere.

Raised in a prolific artistic environment, Cortès was an avid student of both his father, French painter Antonio Cortès and his older brother, Andre. The young artist was greatly influenced by his father and other famous artists who flocked to the picturesque town of Langly where Cortès was born. Maximilien Luce, Camille Pissarro and Lucien Pissarro, among other celebrities of the Impressionist period, were personal friends of the family, and the young Cortès flourished in this rich artistic environment, though he developed a remarkably independent style. Cortès exhibited his first work in 1899 at the Société des Artistes Française in Paris where he was met with excellent reviews. In 1901, he began painting scenes of Paris, and he went on to exhibit in the great venues of Paris and later in America and Canada, earning great admiration from his peers, patrons and critics. Today, Cortès continues to be lauded as one of the great Impressionist painters of the Belle Époque, and collectors increasingly seek his unmistakable work.