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John Singer Sargent (1856–1925)
Fishing for Oysters at Cancale, 1878
Oil on canvas; 16 1/8 x 24 in. (41 x 61 cm)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gift of Miss Mary Appleton
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Sargent based his canvas on sketches made during a visit to Cancale, on Brittany's northern coast, in summer 1877. Accompanied by barefoot children, the statuesque Cancalaises carrying their empty oyster baskets embody the strength of the region's inhabitants, who had long coped with intemperate nature and frequent invasions. The painting received ecstatic reviews at the March–April 1878 inaugural exhibition of New York's Society of American Artists. Sargent's larger and more conservatively painted version of the scene (1878; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.) won honorable mention at the Salon in late May.
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