La Francine de Granville

Eugenie Marie Salanson 1864 - 1892

Summary

This is a portrait of a young woman from the fishing village of Granville, in Normandy. Her dark hair may be tied back, but it is still ruffled by the sea breeze. Her head is tilted slightly to her right, consistent with her bag over her right shoulder. The background setting is of a shoreline at low tide, with the sea just visible in the distance to the right, and a rocky shore and grasses to the left. Nothing is known of the sitter, except her name, Francine. The use of 'La' before her name was standard practice in rural France at that time, denoting familiarity. Granville, a small fishing port, became a fashionable seaside resort in the nineteenth century. Eugénie Salanson trained first in Calais and then, since the Académie des Beaux-Arts did not accept women, at the Académie Julian, where she was taught by William-Adolphe Bouguereau. Afterwards, Léon Cogniet took her on as a private pupil. She made her debut at the Salon in 1864 and in the 1880s moved to the coast of Normandy, where she painted many portraits such as this of the local fisherwomen. Her subjects were almost exclusively women.