Attributed to Jules Noël (1810–1873), Attributed to - Pêcheuse sur une plage

Attributed to Jules Noël (Nancy, 1810 – Algiers, 1873)

Fisherwoman on a beach, oil on panel. French School, 19th century. Dated 1836.

Maritime genre scene depicting a fisherwoman with a wide-brimmed straw hat, white apron and red skirt, standing on a shore; in the background, stranded fishing boats, figures and sails in a misty light characteristic of the coasts of the English Channel. Clean handling, knife-marked impasto in the foreground and on the linens, atmosphere typical of Jules Noël’s production, painter of marine and coastal landscapes of Brittany and Normandy, a precursor of impressionist sensibility (works preserved notably at the Musée d’Orsay and at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Quimper).

Dating and inscriptions: the work bears on the front, at the bottom, the date “1836” painted in red within the pictorial layer. It is not signed with a name on the front. On the reverse there are, in two places (crosspiece of the panel and support), the handwritten inscription “Jules Noël” as well as the date “1836”; these back markings should be regarded as an old attribution, concordant with the date on the face.

Attribution: probable but not definitive attribution (“attribué à”).

Frame: wood and gilded stucco frame in Rococo style, period, bearing on the back the label of the Parisian picture-framer-gilder Souty, 15, rue du Louvre, opposite the Colonnade — a firm active in the 1830s, which places the framing in the same period as the date of the work. Sold with its frame.

Dimensions: 24 × 17 cm; with frame 37 × 30 cm.

Provenance: acquired during a succession clearance in Chatou (Yvelines, France), within a group also including oils by Samuel Frère — coherent with a collection belonging to an amateur of the Norman school of the 19th century. On the reverse a numbered label “0494316” (probable former inventory number).

Condition: the pictorial layer is sound, with light age crackling; the original frame shows losses and rubbing to the gilding, in keeping with its age. See detailed photos.