The Joys Of Boating, Signed Oil On Canvas, Circa 1880

The Joys of Boating, a Comic Scene of a Capsizing on a River19th Century
French School
Oil on canvas in very good condition
the frame has some damage
Illegible signature lower right
Period: circa 1850–1870

This lively and theatrical scene depicts a group of bourgeois strollers in a capsizing rowboat. In the center, two elegantly dressed young women holding pretty pastel parasols lose their balance while a man slumped in the boat seems more concerned with his bottle than the impending disaster. Another rower tries to maintain control with a pole. Several figures have already fallen into the water, while a playful dog comes to their aid with a branch in its mouth... A small black dog clinging to the arms of one of the ladies adds an extra touch of whimsy. The ladies are beautiful, the good bourgeois are almost ridiculous, It's like reading a short story by Maupassant.
The composition is lively, colorful and humorous, and reveals great attention to clothing details and facial expressions. The general atmosphere evokes the river pleasures of a bourgeois Sunday bordering on satire.
Although the signature is partially erased or illegible, this work is very clearly in the vein of artists like Xavier Narcy, active in France in the second half of the 19th century. Narcy is known for his picturesque and humorous genre scenes, often marked by a taste for the comicality of situations and a Rococo inspiration brought up to date. These light, sometimes satirical paintings responded to the bourgeoisie's taste for theater and illustration.
Artistic context In the 19th century, genre scenes were very popular. They allowed the rising middle class to recognize themselves in everyday or pleasant situations, with a touch of humor or romanticism. This type of work is part of the tradition of painters such as Boilly, Gavarni, or Debucourt, and finds an extension in the rural scenes of Rococo inspiration, very popular under the Second Empire.