Joseph-Louis-Hippolyte BELLANGÉ (Paris, 1800 - 1866) Étretat. The old fisherman and the little children, 1852 Painting on pebble in a chased bronze frame Signed and dated and localized in the lower center: "H.te Bellangé. 1852/ à Etretat". Total height : 20 cm Provenance: Given in 1852 by the artist to his friend Eugène Le Poittevin; remained in his descendants. Exhibition : The Invention of Étretat - Eugène Le Poittevin, a painter and his friends at the dawn of Impressionism, Pêcheries, cat. exp. Musée de Fécamp, 14 July-15 November 2020, cat. 63. Bibliography: - Bruno Delarue, Les peintres à Étretat, 1786-1840, Yport, 2005, cited p. 254. - Cat. exp. L'invention d'Étretat - Eugène Le Poittevin, un peintre et ses amis à l'aube de l'impressionisme, Pêcheries, musée de Fécamp, 14 July-15 November 2020, reproduced p. 148. Trained in the studio of Antoine-Jean Gros (1771-1835) from 1816 onwards, Hippolyte Bellangé found his inspiration mainly in military subjects, in particular the Revolution and the Napoleonic campaigns. He met with his first success at the Salon of 1822 when he received a second class medal. In 1834, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Legion of Honor for his painting Napoleon on his return from Elba. In 1837, he moved to Rouen where he became curator of the Musée des Beaux-Arts before returning to Paris in 1853. From this period in Normandy, he brought back numerous seascapes and studies of fishermen. This painting on pebble, offered in 1852 by the artist to his friend the painter Eugène Le Poittevin, is part of this small body of work dedicated to Norman scenes. Through the choice of its support, a tribute to the pebble beaches of Étretat, its subject and its bronze mounting probably made by Pierre-Jules Mêne, this work by Bellangé is a rare and touching testimony to his Norman period.