1869, Eugène Boudin, Sailing Ships in Port -- Hammer Museum (Los Angeles)
From the museum label: One of the most famous maritime painters in France, Eugène Boudin often drew inspiration from the coastal villages and seaports of his native Normandy and nearby Brittany. His depictions of cloud-laden skies, narrow harbor buildings, and ships—both imposing sailing vessels and the more modest boats that entered the port waters—recall seventeenth-century Dutch marine paintings by artists such as Jan van Goyen and Jacob and Salomon van Ruisdael. The northern French climate, similar in severity to that of the Netherlands, allowed Boudin to capture the intermittently choppy seas and heavy skies that had been customary in European seascapes for centuries. The tall-masted ship on the right displays the French flag fluttering in the wind. Sailing Ships in Port also displays Boudin's interest in recording a fleeting moment in time, an idea also of interest to the impressionists. This painting may depict the port of a channel town such as Honfleur or Le Havre, where simple wooden houses line the dockside.
1869, Eugène Boudin, Sailing Ships in Port -- Hammer Museum (Los Angeles)
From the museum label: One of the most famous maritime painters in France, Eugène Boudin often drew inspiration from the coastal villages and seaports of his native Normandy and nearby Brittany. His depictions of cloud-laden skies, narrow harbor buildings, and ships—both imposing sailing vessels and the more modest boats that entered the port waters—recall seventeenth-century Dutch marine paintings by artists such as Jan van Goyen and Jacob and Salomon van Ruisdael. The northern French climate, similar in severity to that of the Netherlands, allowed Boudin to capture the intermittently choppy seas and heavy skies that had been customary in European seascapes for centuries. The tall-masted ship on the right displays the French flag fluttering in the wind. Sailing Ships in Port also displays Boudin's interest in recording a fleeting moment in time, an idea also of interest to the impressionists. This painting may depict the port of a channel town such as Honfleur or Le Havre, where simple wooden houses line the dockside.