Fécamp is a fishing town on the Normandy coast around 35 km north-east of Le Havre and 60 km north-west of Rouen. This part of the coast is known for its high limestone cliffs, giving it the nickname of Côte d'Albâtre (Alabaster Coast). Chintreuil visited the area in 1861 and painted a number of open air oil studies on paper, including this one, which was later stuck down on canvas. Pinpricks in each corner of the paper suggest it was painted on site.
The vertical format of the picture is rather unusual for a landscape, but it allows Chintreuil to focus on the structure of the rocky coastline, from which the small houses seem to emerge. The very high horizon prefigures a compositional device used by Pissarro and Cezanne.
Chintreuil studied in the studio of Delaroche from 1842, but it was Corot, whom he met the following year, who encouraged him to paint outdoors. Normandy was a popular painting location for artists including Boudin and Impressionist painters, such as Monet, who had been working there since the mid-1850s. Although not an Impressionist, Chintreuil was similarly interested in capturing light and atmosphere.
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