Medium: oil
Exhibited: Royal Academy, 1884
Athenaeum, 12 April 1884:
Mr. Crowe has likewise painted a scene in the fish-market at Rouen, showing how the salesman’s servant stands barefooted on a large white slab, and holds up a lot of fish, while the officer of the octroi, the salesman and a female clerk sit at one of the four sides of the slab, on our left. Behind this group, facing us on the other side, and on a third side, are animated groups of men and women. Among the last we notice a vigorous contest of bidding between two women, whose offers seem to exceed the value of the lot on sale, and whose energy affords sport to the bystanders, among whom are some odd figures.
This description matches exactly the scene depicted in a separate watercolour painting, which was exhibited in 1922 and sold in 1938 under the title of Boulogne Fishmarket (1886).
Eyre Crowe (1824-1910) 