Medium: oil
Size: 38 x 58 inches. With frame, 145 cm x 94 cm inches
Current owner: Private owner
The painting shows a number of women thought to be in traditional Breton costume. Le Portel is a small village near Boulogne in northern France.
It was offered for sale at auction on 5 August 2022 by Atkins Auctions of Axminster, Devon, and at that time dated as 1871 and given the title ‘Hauling the Boat Ashore – Coast of France’.
However, the painting actually dates from around 1857. It was taken to America and shown in the American Exhibition of British Art in New York between October and December 1857. It was number 33 in the catalogue, according to the Smithsonian Museum’s pre-1877 Art Exhibition Catalogue Index.
It is possible that this is the same painting as Boat and Figures – The Launch. Medium: oil painting or sketch. Size: 50 x 30 inches. Auctioned by Messrs Furber, 22 Feb 1911 (3s), or that ‘Boat and Figures’ was a sketch for it.
Eyre Crowe (1824-1910) 