The Normandy Coast, c. 1830
Oil on paper laid down on canvas, H. 0.22 m; W. 0.32 m
Bears a wax stamp of the artist’s studio sale on stretcher
Provenance: Camille Roqueplan sale in Paris “Tableaux et curiosités composant son atelier (…)”, 1st sale, 10 December 1855.
Private collection
Trained from 1818 at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, first by Abel de Pujol and then by Gros, Roqueplan soon made a place for himself as one of the best painters of Romantic landscape. Exhibiting regularly at the Salon from 1822 until his death in 1855, like Paul Huet, his work formed a prelude to the chromatic investigations of the Barbizon painters.
A medal winner at the Salon as early as 1824, chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1832, Roqueplan pursued a successful career under the July Monarchy, although discreet, as shown by three paintings commissioned between 1834 and 1842 for the museum at the Chateau of Versailles (in situ).
Roqueplan created seascapes from the start of his career. During the 1820s, he worked especially in Normandy and Brittany. From 1825 to 1830, he concentrated almost exclusively on marine subjects, including the most dramatic aspects of the ocean. Stylistically Roqueplan’s art fits between the delicacy and serenity of Bonington and the brilliance and glitter of Isabey.