Vissersboot vertrekt voor de visvangst 1832

'Vissersboot vertrekt voor de visvangst’ or 'Fishing boat leaving for fishing’ is an undated etching by Eugène Modeste Edmond Lepoittevin. Lepoittevin was a 19th-century artist, working in a moment when France's maritime identity was deeply intertwined with its economic and colonial ambitions. Here we see the vessel cutting through choppy waters, with a crew of men huddled together, readying themselves for the open sea. What might seem like a straightforward depiction of labor is steeped in narratives of masculinity and the working class. These men, facing the elements, embody a rugged ideal that was often romanticized. But such romanticization often obscures the socio-economic precarity that defined the lives of many working class fisherman, whose livelihoods were subject to the whims of nature and the marketplace. Lepoittevin invites us to consider the complexities of maritime life in 19th-century France, an era marked by both progress and profound social inequalities. What does it mean to represent these figures, and whose stories remain untold in the process?