Louis Duveau, 'Rising Tide, Coast of Penmarch', 1850-9

Previously attributed to Géricault and Couture, this painting has recently been attributed to the Breton artist Louis Duveau (1818-1867). It is believed to be one of several versions of the composition by the artist, the final version of which (now likely lost) was made into a print by Emile Louis Vernier, published in 1860. Born in Saint-Malo, Duveau trained and worked in Paris but Brittany and the Breton coast remained a source of inspiration throughout his career. Breton peasants and fishermen form the subject of many of his paintings. The coast depicted in this painting is that of Penmarch, in Finistère, south-west Brittany.

Three young people find themselves in a perilous situation, having been cut off from land by the incoming sea. They wear traditional Breton dress, for example the woman’s red waistcoat and the boy’s trousers (bragou berr). Under a tormented sky, surrounded by a threatening sea, two women cling to each other in distress while a young boy waves a flag or cloth, desperately calling for help. Rolling waves come roaring and foaming, encircling the half-submerged rock on which they stand precariously, signalling impending danger. Buffeted by the wind, overwhelmed by anguish, the standing woman clasps her soaked skirts, their fabric stiffened and weighed down by cold seawater and salt. The melodrama and colouring are both characteristic of the romantic vein in nineteenth-century French painting.

Paintings with themes drawn from Brittany’s life, legends and history became popular in France from the 1840s onwards, with a number exhibited at the Paris Salon. (French: Poussin, Pierre-Charles, Pardon Day in Brittany (NG810) is one example.