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Boat Dashing Against a Jetty
Boat Dashing Against a Jetty
Image © Worcester Art Museum, all rights reserved.

Boat Dashing Against a Jetty

Artist (French, 1803–1886)
Date1850s
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensionscanvas: 92.7 × 131.8 cm (36 1/2 × 51 7/8 in.)
framed: 113.3 × 151.8 × 7.6 cm (44 5/8 × 59 3/4 × 3 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineCharlotte E. W. Buffington Fund
Object number1968.16
Label TextEugène Isabey was the son of a painter. Trained by his father, he became a successful and popular master, specializing in genre, marine, and historical subjects. This painting, which Isabey left unfinished, was probably executed in the 1850s. In this rapid, sketchy composition, Isabey captures the sweep and awesome power of the storm and the frightened agitation of the figures on shore with sure confidence and skill. Comparing the painting to the large Shipwreck by Hubert Robert in the 16th-19th century gallery, one can contrast the conceptions of a single theme as expressed by eighteenth and nineteenth century painters. Robert's painting exploits the picturesque qualities of the scene; his melodrama is staged within a grand romantic landscape. Isabey's concept is far more direct and involving, with a poetic element which derives from Gericault's monumental canvases. ProvenanceH. Shickman Gallery; purchased by Worcester Art Museum, 1968.
On View
On view