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Giovanni Boldini
Italian, 1842–1931
Return of the Fishing Boats, Étretat
1879
The village of Étretat, on France’s Normandy coast, is famous for its picturesque rock formations, which are visible in the background of Boldini’s painting. Rather than focusing on the cliffs, as many artists did, Boldini concentrated on the beach, where locals and elegantly dressed visitors have gathered by a fishing boat to assess the day’s catch. This meticulously detailed painting captures the mixed character of the village—part fishing community, part tourist destination.
Image Caption
Giovanni Boldini, Return of the Fishing Boats, Étretat, 1879, oil on panel. Clark Art Institute, 1955.647
Medium
oil on panel
Dimensions
5 1/2 × 9 7/16 in. (14 × 23.9 cm)
Frame: 10 1/4 × 14 1/8 × 2 in. (26 × 35.9 × 5.1 cm)
Object Number
1955.647
Acquisition
Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955
Status
On Loan
Select Bibliography
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1970. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1972. Cunningham, Charles C., et al. The Elegant Academics: Chroniclers of 19th-Century Parisian Life. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: The Clark, 1974. Cass, David B. and John Wetenhall. Italian Paintings 1850-1910 from Collections in the Northeastern United States. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1982. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984. Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992. Herbert, Robert L. "Courbet's Lost Laundresses." Art in America 83 no. 2 (February 1995): 8085, 107. Doria, Bianca. Boldini: Catalogo Generale dei Disegni. Milan: Skira, 2000. Murphy, Alexandra. "Monet in Normandia e Bretagna." In Monet: I luoghi della pittura. Exhibition catalogue. Conegliano, Italy: Linea d'ombra Libri, 2001. Panconi, Tiziano. Giovanni Boldini: L'Opera Completa. Firenze: Edifir Edizioni Firenze, 2002. Dini, Piero and Francesca Dini. Catalogo Ragionato della Pittura a Olio con un'Ampia Selezione di Pastelli, Acquerelli e Disegni. Volume III of Giovanni Boldini, 18421931: Catalogo ragionato. Torino: Umberto Allemandi & C., 2002. Clarke, Michael and Richard Thomson. Monet: The Seine and The Sea 1878-1883. Edinburgh: National Galleries of Scotland, 2003. Lees, Sarah. Giovanni Boldini in Impressionist Paris. Exhibition catalogue. With contributions by Richard Kendall and Barbara Guidi. Ferrara, Italy: Ferrara Arte; Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2009.
Lees, Sarah, ed. Nineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven and London: distributed by Yale University Press, 2012.
Lees, Sarah, ed. Nineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven and London: distributed by Yale University Press, 2012.
Provenance
J. J. Brown, The Woodlands, Reigate (his sale, Christie’s, London, 3 Apr. 1909, no. 4, as The Fish Auction, Etretat, sold to Wallis & Son; [Wallis & Son, London]; Morgan Wing, Tuxedo Park, New York, sold to Knoedler, 1929; [Knoedler, New York, sold to Clark, 30 Apr. 1929, as Return from Fishing]; Robert Sterling Clark (1929–55); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955.