Art Collections Online

As a boy in Honfleur, Boudin gained experience as a deckhand on his father's boat and remained fascinated by shipping. From 1853 he worked increasingly out of doors, en plein air, and in 1874 was included in the first Impressionist exhibition. This painting of fishing smacks returning is one of the first in a series of works purchased by Sir Frederick Wedmore with funds left by James Pyke Thompson which 'though necessarily small ... are admirably representative of certain phases of modern art'.