Brief Report

This little panel shows a section of the lively beach at Trouville-sur-Mer on the coast of Normandy. It was a motif to which the artist turned a number of times in and around 1881 [Schmit 1973, vol. 2; Koella 2000, cat. nos. 8, 15, 27]. The poplar panel with its white ground does not correspond to any standard contemporary format. In Boudin's work, however, there are other panels with almost the same dimensions and also in other uniform sizes, suggesting that the artist liked and standardized certain formats [Schmit 1973, vol. 2]. Boudin first laid in the main areas of the beach, sea and sky, applying the paints largely wet-in-wet, as indicated by numerous details, including the ships, which were applied on wet paint (fig. 9). After a certain time being allowed for drying, the groups of people were added, their dimensions getting smaller from foreground to background, thus determining the perspective composition of the scene. In the area of the figures the paint is more impasto. In highly varied brush-strokes, he skilfully models the figures. Fine, almost semi-transparent accents give a precise look to the brisk brushwork (figs 6-8). Traces of pressure in the wet paint all around the periphery and others on the bottom edge point to the use of a painting case, as was usual for plein air painting. The signature was added some time after the painting was finished, for the initial "E" is superimposed on a loss in the paint-layer (fig. 5). Even so, this signature appears to be authentic. Possibly it was added later on the occasion of the sale of the panel, which may already have shown signs of damage. An extant sales list dating from 1881 includes more than 60 works by Boudin which went to the dealer and gallery-owner Durand-Ruel, including two paintings titled "Trouville" [Koella 2000, p. 128]. Unfortunately the picture has been subject to substantial restoration and inexpert cleaning in the past, suffering damage in the process, and in places considerable areas have been overpainted; some nuances of the airy scene have thus been irretrievably lost (figs 11, 12).

Eugène Boudin
Trouville, Beach Scene, 1881, oil on poplar, 14.0 x 26.0 cm, WRM Dep. FC 735

Eugène Boudin

born on 12 July 1824 in Honfleur,
died on 8 August 1898 in Deauville

Brief report with complete data as downloadable pdf-file

Further illustrations:

Fig. 02

Verso, plywood board with flat cradle, stained dark


Fig. 03

Raking light


Fig. 04

UV fluorescence


Fig. 05

Details of the location/date and signature, the reddish-brown paint of the letter "E" in the signature overlaps with a small loss in the paint-layer (right), microscopic photograph (M = 1 mm)


Fig. 06

Detail, execution of the figures


Fig. 07

Detail, execution of the figures


Fig. 08

Lively brushwork in the area of the head and torso of a female figure in the foreground, microscopic photograph (M = 1 mm)


Fig. 09

Wet-in-wet paint application in the area of the ships in the background, microscopic photograph (M = 1 mm)


Fig. 10

Individual applications of paint do not adhere well to the underlying pain-layers and pearl off, maybe pointing to an aqueous component in the binding medium, microscopic photograph (M = 1 mm)


Fig. 11

Detail with extensive overpainting in the foreground; the mapping (top right) notes all the overpainted areas and retouching (blue = pale overpainting, green = grey overpainting with characteristic pigmentation, orange = semi-transparent overpainting)


Fig. 12

Excessive cleaning measures with solvent have resulted in many details of the painting now displaying clear reductions or abrasions, microscopic photograph (M = 1 mm)