Women Across the Globe & the Centuries: Women in Small Boats 19C

Christian Eriksen Skredsvig Christian Skredsvig (Norwegian painter, 1854–1924) 'Aften på innsjøen' 1892

Some of the following boats are punt boats. Punting's another way of saying poling. A punt is a flat-bottomed boat, and punting is propelling a punt by shoving a pole against the bottom of a river or canal. Punts became pleasure boats in the late 19th century. Victorian & Edwardian women were encouraged to punt as it was considered appropriately "ladylike" exercise. I spent hours in small boats with my Mother & Father each summer while growing up.

Édouard Manet (French artist, 1832–1883) Sail Boating 1874

"Boats are the nearest thing to dreams that hands have ever made."

Jacques-Joseph Tissot (1836-1902) Lady in a boat

In 1907, B H B Symons-Jeune wrote, “One of the most noticeable features in the development of punting during the last few years is the extraordinary number of lady punters to be seen now everywhere on the river, and nothing looks nicer than to see a lady punting really well — the average lady is distinctly better than the average man.”

John Lavery (Irish painter, 1856-1941)

Pierre Auguste Renoir (1941-1919). Young Girl in a Boat 1875

Victor Borisov-Musatov (Russian artist, 1870-1905) In a Boat

Arthur Hacker (English Pre-Raphaelite painter, 1858-1919) Girl in a Punt Boat

Claude Monet (1849-1926) The Blue Boat

Henry John Yeend King (British artist, 1855-1924) Two Ladies Punting on the River detail

John Lavery (Irish painter, 1856-1941) Boating on the Thames

Frederick Morgan (English genre painter, 1847-1927) A Day on the River

Arthur Hacker (English Pre-Raphaelite painter, 1858-1919) A Quiet Cove, a Girl Canoeing

Jacques-Joseph Tissot (1836-1902) Detail On the Thames 1871-72

Claude Monet (1849-1926), Pink Boat 1887. Of this painting, Monet wrote on June 22, 1890: "I am again vexed by things that are impossible to do: water with undulating vegetation on the bottom."

Pierre Auguste Renoir (1941-1919). Woman in a Boat 1867