Retour de la Pêche
18th century
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
sheet: 14 1/2 x 9 7/16 in. (36.8 x 24 cm) plate: 12 x 8 9/16 in. (30.5 x 21.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1960
Accession Number
60.634.63
Tags
Art Historical Context
Joseph Vernet’s *Retour de la Pêche* captures a quiet moment of return from the sea, rendered in the precise lines of an eighteenth-century etching. Vernet, celebrated for his luminous marine and coastal views, often explored the rhythms of daily life along the shore. Here the title and the presence of figures among trees suggest a transitional landscape where land and water meet, inviting viewers to sense both the labor of fishing and the calm of homecoming. As an etching, the work belongs to a medium prized for its ability to circulate images widely. Fine hatching and tonal contrasts allow ...