Rising Tide, Coast of Penmarch

Artist: Louis Duveau (French, 1818 - 1867)

Original Dimensions: 25 1/4" x 31 3/4"

Location: National Gallery of Art, London

About Artwork: (1850-9) "Previously attributed to Géricault and Couture, this painting has recently been attributed to the Breton artist Louis Duveau (1818-1867). It is believed to be one of several versions of the composition by the artist, the final version of which (now likely lost) was made into a print by Emile Louis Vernier, published in 1860. Born in Saint-Malo, Duveau trained and worked in Paris but Brittany and the Breton coast remained a source of inspiration throughout his career. Breton peasants and fishermen form the subject of many of his paintings. The coast depicted in this painting is that of Penmarch, in Finistère, south-west Brittany. Three young people, in traditional Breton dress, find themselves in a perilous situation, having been cut off from land by the incoming sea. Threatened by a raging sea, two women cling to each other in distress while a boy waves an improvised flag, desperately calling for help. Foaming waves encircle their half-submerged rock. The melodrama and colouring are both characteristic of the romantic vein in nineteenth-century French painting." - (National Gallery of Art, London)