Eugène LE POITTEVIN (Paris, 1806 - 1870) A Norman beach, summer evening Paper mounted on canvas 25,2 x 35,1 cm On the reverse on the upper bar of the stretcher, wax stamp of the sale of the artist's studio, followed by the inscription in graphite: "N° 80 Provenance: - Sale after the artist's death, Me Escribe, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, April 9-12, 1872, No. 80 ("a beach at low tide," sold for 85 francs to "Bellangé"). - Eugène Bellangé (1837-1895), painter, friend of Le Poittevin and author of the preface of the previous sale. A lover of picturesque sites, Le Poittevin was captivated when his friend Eugène Isabey, inventor of the small Norman port in the early 1820s, introduced him to Étretat. Not only did he build a villa there, La Chaufferette, in 1851, but he also set up a studio on the Perrey, the highest part of the beach from which the view of the bay could be seen.