Maurice Utrillo produced thousands of oil paintings, mainly of street scenes in the Montmartre district of Paris. He is best known for his White Period (1909–14), during which he used white zinc, sometimes mixed with plaster, to convey the aging walls and deteriorating houses of his cityscapes. Socially withdrawn and a recovering alcoholic, Utrillo would often work from tourist postcards to produce his work. Critics have linked Utrillo’s urban and rural views to the legacy of 18th-century Venetian artist Francesco Guardi and 19th-century French landscapist Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot.