Sunset at Étretat Painting

There is a stretch of the Normandy coast at Étretat where the cliff opens into a great stone arch, and painters have been drawn to it for as long as there have been painters in France. Found in Le Mans and dating to the 19th century, this small oil catches it at sunset, the sky gone pink and gold behind the arch, fishing boats drawn up on the beach below. Those cliffs were painted by Monet and Courbet and a hundred lesser hands besides, each trying to hold the same light on the same water, which is exactly what this one does in miniature. In its little beaded gilt frame it is perfect on a shelf or grouped on a wall with other small paintings, a whole sunset in the space of a postcard.