Louis-Gabriel-Eugène Isabey (French, 1803-1886)

Eugène Isabey dominated marine painting in France during the July Monarchy (1830-1848) and directly linked the British Romantics to the proto-Impressionist Boudin and Jongkind. He travelled to London in 1820 and 1825 and was greatly influenced by the work of Turner and his travelling companion Richard Parkes Bonington. The dramatic setting and energy of the present painting clearly shows the influence of Turner and was conceived during the artist’s séjourn to the Pyrenees in November 1856. A smaller study for this painting is in the collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Pau.