View of an Estuary, with Fisherfolk Drawing in a Net

Doubts have been expressed about the authenticity of this painting, but they do not appear to be justified. It is, admittedly, untypical in having large areas of water and sky at the centre of the composition, and lacking any buildings. Study of the figures, however, leaves little doubt that they are by Hubert Robert, and there is no reason to think that they have been inserted into a setting by another hand. It is probable that the untypical nature of the composition is due to the client who commissioned the picture, who evidently wanted it for some decorative purpose. Unfortunately, there is, at the moment, no indication of who that client, or what that location, was. The importance given to water and sky in the centre of the picture – and also a gnarled tree of very similar character – are to be found in another somewhat eccentric painting by François Boucher (1703-1770) that was at the behest of the client, and for a particular location. That is the Garden Scene with a Canal Bounded by a Hedge – the two shown in extreme perspective – one of a pair commissioned by Baron de Waldner, for the Château de Lévis in Alsace.(1)

 Notes:

 (1) This work was later in the collection of Alvan T. Fuller in Boston, MA, and subsequently auctioned from the London house of Mrs Charles Wrightsman, at Sotheby’s, New York, 28 January 2010, lot 211.