In 1881, six years after Corot's death, Vincent van Gogh observed: "Corot's figures are not as well known as his landscapes, but it cannot be denied that he has done them. Besides, Corot modeled every tree trunk with the same devotion and love as if it were a figure." Perhaps it would be better to say that Corot painted people with the same devotion as he gave to trees, for in his figures one also finds the quiet absorption and unaffected grace—what the French critics called naïveté—with which he imbued his landscapes. Although Corot had always made figure studies, at the end of his life he painted a large number of genre scenes destined for eager collectors. His friends recalled that he looked forward to them as a refreshing holiday from routine. Here, the girl closely resembles Emma Dobigny, who later became one of his favorite models.

Like most of Corot's figure paintings, this work was not exhibited during his life. The title, which directs our attention to what might lie beyond the wall, was probably assigned later, perhaps by the first owner, Corot's student George Camus. Corot gave the picture to Camus in February 1864, when Dobigny would have been thirteen years old.