A Fish-Market near Boulogne

A Fish-Market near Boulogne

1824
Richard Parkes Bonington
British, 1802–1828, active in France 1818–26
Oil on canvas
32 3/8 x 48 1/4 inches (82.2 x 122.6 cm)

Richard Parkes Bonington spent most of his artistic career in France. In February 1824, he traveled to Dunkirk, in northern France, where he devoted himself to marine painting. While there, Bonington made A Fish-Market near Boulogne, one of his largest oil paintings and, undoubtedly, his masterpiece in coastal views. Against a ravishing golden sky, fishermen unload their catch and gather the first buyers of the day. The subtle variations of clear light and reflections on the smooth water are painted with a fluid technique that Bonington had mastered in his watercolors. The young artist created a sensation at the 1824 Paris Salon, where he exhibited his oil paintings for the first time and was awarded the gold medal for a marine painting, possibly this very same one.

B1981.25.50
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection