Artwork
En route pour la pêche (Setting Out to Fish)
En route pour la pêche (Setting Out to Fish) is an ink drawing by the Impressionist artist John Singer Sargent. It dates from 1878 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
John Singer Sargent’s drawing En route pour la pêche captures a fleeting moment of a group, chiefly women, assembling near water to begin a fishing excursion. Rendered on wove paper with pen and brown ink over a graphite underdrawing, the composition balances figures, wet ground and a distant shoreline dotted with sailboats, offering a concise glimpse of communal activity.
Subject & Meaning
The work portrays villagers in traditional dress engaged in the practical preparations for a fishing trip, emphasizing collective effort and routine. By focusing on ordinary people rather than heroic or mythic subjects, Sargent highlights the rhythms of daily life and the quiet anticipation that precedes a shared labor.
Technique & Style
Sargent employs a delicate graphite sketch as a structural base, over which he applies brown ink with fine pen strokes. The drawing demonstrates his command of line to suggest texture—wet puddles reflect light, and the folds of clothing are rendered with subtle cross‑hatching. The restrained palette and controlled shading convey atmospheric light without resorting to heavy coloration.
History & Provenance
Created during Sargent’s mature period, the piece reflects his interest in plein‑air studies and genre scenes. While specific exhibition history is limited, the drawing remains part of the artist’s extensive oeuvre of paper works, which were often collected by patrons and later entered museum holdings as examples of his observational skill.
Artist & collection
Artist
John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 15, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Belle Époque and Edwardian-era luxury.
