Seine, Caudebec-en-Caux

Boudin painted the Channel coast for most of his life, and the museum in Le Havre notes that his trips away from it, including those up the Seine to Quillebeuf, Caudebec and Rouen, were exceptional. This is one of them. Caudebec-en-Caux is a small river town between Rouen and the sea, and here it is seen across the water in 1889. The houses stand in a line along the bank, the Gothic church of Notre-Dame rises above the roofs with its tower and spire, and wooded hills close the view on either side. Down in the lower left corner, beside his signature and the year 89, Boudin added the name of the place. The next year the picture was shown in Le Havre by the Société des Amis des Arts, the town's art society, and in 1912 the city bought it for its museum.