Eugène BOUDIN (1824-1898)

Fishermen putting away their nets in Etretat Oil on panel. Signed and dated 84 lower right. Situated on the lower left corner. 24,5 x 37 cm Red wax stamps on the back. Related work : Our painting is to be compared with the composition n°3228 of Schmit's catalogue (Tome III p 239) dated 1894. In his correspondence, Boudin envisages a stay in Etretat in 1883: June 21: "we wanted to make an excursion on the other side - on the side of Etretat Fécamp - Yport St Valery en Caux, what do I know - to see something else, to look for our life over there". (to Ferd. Martin). It seems that the excursion only took place at the beginning of October, since a drawing in the Louvre, located in Fécamp, bears the date of 4 October 1883. Moreover, in May 1884, he sold Adam "1 Bassin de Fécamp". Boudin may well have finished, dated and sold this small panel the following year. He returned to Etretat from 20 September to 3 October 1890 (according to De Knyff) and in 1891 "We stayed four days in Etretat" (26 October 1891, to Ferd. Martin). Our painting is unpublished. A variant executed in 1894 is listed in Robert Schmit's catalogue raisonné, a year in which Boudin executed four paintings of fishermen or washerwomen on the beach at Etretat.