Anon. Fishing Harbour Scene, Brittany

An original late 19th-century oil painting Fishing Harbour Scene, Brittany.

This delightful original 19th-century oil painting has real charm in its bustling local fishing scene. The location is evidently a working harbour, with smoking factory chimneys and crane, and the masts of many fishing vessels. But the feel is nevertheless colourful and convivial, focusing on the activities of the local fisherfolk in the foreground.

The distinctive white bonnets of the fisherwomen and red caps of the fishermen communicate their unmistakable Breton identity: the red caps, not only a pictorial device to bring flashes of colour and a tricolor palette t the composition, but also a powerful symbol of Breton resistance and protest. In the late 17th century, under the reign of Louis XIV, the red cap was part of traditional peasant dress in Brittany—the red-capped protest in 1675 against a new stamp tax became known as the revolt of the red caps. The following century the symbol was further cemented by the famous red Phrygian caps of the Jacobins during the French Revolution. Whilst the mood of the present painting is calm, the image is enriched by the powerful social and political history underpinning it.

The shores of Northern France were a particular draw for artists towards the end of the 19th century, with Impressionists attracted to the luminous light of locations such as Honfleur and Étretat. The influential work of earlier artists helped pave the way for this popularity, including that of Eugène Boudin (1824–1898), who painted beach scenes at Deauville and Trouville, and that of English watercolourist Richard Parkes Bonington (1802–1828) whose family moved to Calais in 1817.

The painting is presented within its original painted gilt wood and compo frame slip. The painting could alternatively be displayed without the slip (see photos).