Etretat

 

James David Smillie

  1833 - 1909 (biography)

1884  

watercolor 

10 1/4 x 6 7/8" image 

initialed in pigment in lower right: J S 

 

in pigment in lower right beneath initials: Etretat Aug. 84 

 

ivory wove J Whatman Turkey Mill watermarked paper 

 

 

BC225 

SOLD

This 1884 watercolor depicts a rural lane in Étretat, France. Étretat is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in north-western France. It is a tourist and farming town situated about twenty miles northeast of Le Havre on the coast of the Pays de Caux area. Smillie traveled to Europe between May 17 and October 12 of 1884. He spent May to June in London, June in Paris, and July and August in Étretat before returning to London in September. Smillie's imagery depicts the rural beauty of the region and never focuses on the traditional tourist subjects, cityscapes, cathedrals, etc., that were painted by so many others.