St. Jean is a village approximately 12 miles east of Brantome on the river Cole, and due to Napoleon's highway engineers, is a very easy village to miss.
What is apparently the main road goes straight to and over a relatively modern bridge, whereas a hundred yards or so to the side
there is a most charming village square with a little humpback packhorse bridge next to the mill which is the subject of this painting.
It has something of the atmosphere of a Cotswold village but as with many parts of France its anachronistic charm is giving way to
the many benefits of an affluent economy.