13/4/23 - Acquisition - Fécamp, Musée des Pêcheries - We recently reported on the purchase at auction by the Musée de Fécamp of a pebble painted by Hippolyte Bellangé (see news item of 27/3/23). We recently reported on the purchase at auction by the Musée de Fécamp of a pebble painted by Hippolyte Bellangé presented together at the retrospective exhibition devoted to the latter by the museum (see article).
In fact, knowing that this small painting belonged to Jean-Christophe Baudequin, a collector who is often generous to French public collections, we hoped that this might prompt him to make a gesture that would allow the two works to be brought together. And we were not mistaken: Jean-Christophe Baudequin decided to offer it to the museum.
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- 1. Eugène Le Poittevin (1806-1870)
Étretat. The Old Fisherman and the Little Children, 1852
Oil on canvas - 13.2 x 16.5 cm
Fécamp, Musée des Pêcheries
Photo: Musée des Pêcheries - See the image in its page
In the exhibition catalogue, Marie-Hélène Dejardins, then director of the museum and now retired, questioned the authorship of the composition showing an old fisherman and his probable grandchildren on the beach in front of a caloge (a hut made from a boat hull). The most likely hypothesis was that Eugène Le Poittevin gave this painting, whose subject is typical of his art, to Hippolyte Bellangé, who in turn copied it on a pebble and gave it to him.
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- 2. View of the painted pebble and the painting, reunited at the Musée de Fécamp in 2020
in the exhibition "The invention of Étretat. Eugène Le Poittevin.
Un peintre et ses amis à l’aube de l’impressionnism", now both
in this museum.
Photo: Didier Rykner - See the image in its page
This double enrichment, less than a month apart, is a very welcome addition to a collection already rich in works by Le Poittevin. Both will be presented in the same showcase, thus testifying to the friendship that united the two artists.