Honfleur: The Port

Around 1860 Honfleur was losing its trade. Across the Seine estuary, Le Havre had deeper water and was taking the bigger ships, while the entrance to Honfleur's harbour kept silting up and the town leaned on timber shipped in from northern Europe. Boudin, who had known the town since childhood, still painted it as a working port. The Museum Barberini points to how he builds the picture around the stone quayside, showing the harbour as a place where goods and travellers changed hands, on a route that carried merchandise from Rouen through Honfleur to England. It is a small study, about 20 by 27 centimetres, painted in oil on cardboard and signed lower right. In 1901 it was sold at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris together with the collection of Hippolyte Fortin, a collector from Vimoutiers in Normandy.