Trawlers Waiting for Darkness (after Colin Hunter)

Theophile Narcisse Chauvel

In 1878 this etching was published in the Parisian art magazine, L'Art, for which Chauvel worked. It was published in concert with the Exposition Universalle where the painting by Scottish artist Colin Hunter was exhibited, which he titled "Pêcheurs écossais attendant l'obscurité". Unlike this impression, the published etching did not include the remarque seen in the lower right margin, which features two fishermen hauling their catch from the shoreline.

Chauvel was a popular reproduction artist whose etchings, drypoints, and lithographs elegantly captured the mood of paintings in small-format black and white, as evidenced by this scene of fishermen waiting for twilight. Included in the curator's comments on this work in the British Museum is this note from a reader: "The painting by Hunter which [this print] reproduces was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1873, and at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1874. ...["Trawlers Waiting..."] may well be a print shown at one of the Dudley Gallery's Black and White exhibitions."

The painter Colin Hunter was known for his depictions of fishing cultures along the seashores of Britain and Europe, but particularly of Scotland.