Small Boat

Eugène Isabey's work is influenced by several factors. From the Flemish and Dutch masters of the 17th century, he derived a preference for brown tones and large expanses of sky. On the other hand, he had a great admiration for the British landscape painters John Constable and Richard Parkes Bonington, who were also known in France in the 1820s and…

Eugène Isabey's work is influenced by several factors. From the Flemish and Dutch masters of the 17th century, he derived a preference for brown tones and large expanses of sky. On the other hand, he had a great admiration for the British landscape painters John Constable and Richard Parkes Bonington, who were also known in France in the 1820s and 1830s. In the painting we get a clear picture of Isabey's landscape vision. In view of its format and paper support, it is probably an open-air study. This landscape sketch was given shape by an instinctive and restless brushwork. Combined with a plastic and sensual use of colour, this turned the simple subject into a lively and convincing study.