Born in Italy to expatriate Philadelphians, John Singer Sargent maintained an exceptionally cosmopolitan life and career. Oyster Gatherers Returning dates to his years of initial study in France, where the aspiring artist began to develop the painterly style for which he became revered.
Breaking temporarily from his training, Sargent ventured to the coastal village of Cancale, which attracted scores of artists for its rustic, inexpensive charms. Showing a huddled mass of fisherfolk traveling home with a day's catch, Oyster Gatherers Returning is one of several studies that culminated in two other versions of the scene (Corcoran Gallery of Art and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston). This study's relatively coarse appearance suggests that Sargent executed it on site.
