Interest has been drawn to two particular paintings depicting the beach and its summer visitors, Les Bains de Mer, Plage d’Étretat of 1864 and Bains de mer à Étretat of 1866. In 1967, Raymond Lindon (mayor of Étretat from 1929 to 1959) published a seminal article on the two paintings.Lindon (1967). After examining preliminary sketches and period photographs, and studying the artist's family and social circle, Lindon identified many of the figures, including the painter Charles Landelle, the illustrator and caricaturist Bertall, a gangling Guy de Maupassant, and Lepoittevin himself.
