As Douglas Cooper suggested in 1957, this work may well have been painted during Monet's stay in Honfleur in late 1866 instead of 1864, the date it is more commonly given. Many factors argue for 1866: the confident execution, the great contrast between light and shade, the heavy paint, and somewhat blocky brushstrokes all point to the accomplished painter of 1866 rather than the more timid and searching painter of 1864. Nevertheless, the clear sky and light tonality are more typical of Monet's earlier work. Further support for a date in 1864 can be found in the fact that this picture and the nearly identical canvas in Mannheim constitute a pair, and in 1864, Monet painted two other pairs of pictures—*Chantier des petits navires* (Yard of the Small Boats, Wildenstein 26, 27) and *Pointe de la Hève* (Wildenstein 39, 40). It is at present impossible to be conclusive about the date.

There is an inherent affinity between this work (and its cognate in Mannheim) and the early work of Corot and his associates, such as Théodore Caruelle d'Aligny. Monet seems to evoke the bright light, deep shadows, clarity of depiction, and fidelity to topography found in the small studies that Corot and d'Aligny made in Italy and France in the late 1820s and early 1830s. Monet suggested to Bazille in a letter of 1864 that Bazille might see a resemblance to Corot's work in one of the paintings Monet was sending to him (we do not know which canvas this was): "You may find in it a certain relationship to Corot, but without imitating him in any way. The motif and above all the quiet and vaporous effect are the reasons for this." Monet's adjectives, "quiet and vaporous," point to late rather than early Corot, and it was not certain at this time that Monet had ever seen early works by Corot. It is true, however, that Monet's method at this point was similar to that of the young French artists who made outdoor sketches in the 1830s, and the similarity may be more a result of common purpose and method than self-conscious emulation.

The newly assertive structure of the composition may reveal the effect of Jongkind's advice, for Monet and Jongkind worked together closely in Honfleur in 1864.

CREDIT LINE: Bequest of John T. Spaulding

ACCESSION NUMBER: 48.580 

INSCRIPTIONS: Lower left: Claude Monet

PROVENANCE:

1867, possibly Frédéric Bazille (b. 1841 - d. 1870), Paris. Until 1897, possibly Aimé Diot, Paris; March 8-9, 1897, possibly posthumous Diot sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, lot 102. About 1901, with Arthur Tooth and Sons [see note 3]; November 21, 1902, sold by Tooth to Durand-Ruel, Paris; August 12, 1912, sold by Durand-Ruel to Galerie Thannhauser, Munich [see note 4]; 1915, probably sold by Thannhauser to Oscar Schmitz (b. 1861 - d. 1933), Dresden and Zürich [see note 5]; 1936, sold by the estate of Oscar Schmitz to Wildenstein and Co., Paris and New York [see note 6]; 1940, sold by Wildenstein to John Taylor Spaulding (b. 1870 - d. 1948), Boston; 1948, bequest of John Taylor Spaulding to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 3, 1948)