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First and most significant of the French Realists, Gustave Courbet (1819–77) spent time in Trouville with the American artist Whistler, as well as accompanying Corot to Étretat. His series of stormy seascapes, with changing skies, was a great influence on the Impressionists.

Flaubert spent the greater part of his 59 years in Normandy; its places and people suffuse his writing. Born in Rouen in 1821, he abandoned a Paris law training to live and write in Croisset until his death. He published his finest work, Madame Bovary , in 1857.

Maupassant (1850–93) was born at Château de Miromesnil near Dieppe, and spent his childhood in Étretat. His mother had been a playmate of Flaubert, who guided Maupassant’s debut as a writer. His first masterpiece was Boule de suif (1880).

Lord of the Manor Guillaume Paynel founded the abbey in 1145. Always a small community, its fortunes declined over the years, and in 1784 it was declared defunct. In the 19th century, the buildings were quarried for stone; only in the 20th were the noble ruins we see today saved from further destruction (see Abbaye de Hambye).

Painted in Le Havre in 1872. Displayed in the Musée Marmottan, Paris.

Prévert (1900–77) visited Normandy in 1930 and fell in love with it. Soon after, he started to write poetry on the themes of beauty, innocence, love and despair. Paroles , his best-known collection, was published in 1945. In 1971, he and his wife bought a house in Omonville-la-Petite. They are buried nearby, and there is a memorial garden in St-Germain-des-Vaux.

Corot (1796–1875) was a landscape artist who turned to portrait painting late in his career. The picturesque town of Étretat had particular appeal for him, and he travelled there with Courbet in the 1860s and ’70s.

Son of a peasant farmer in Gréville-Hague, Millet (1814–75) was apprenticed to a painter in Cherbourg before moving to Paris, where he worked under Paul Delaroche, and later to Barbizon, where he became a member of the Barbizon School led by Théodore Rousseau. He is best known for his naturalistic paintings of farm workers.

The greatest English landscape artist of his time, Turner (1775–1851) paid frequent visits to Dieppe, Le Havre, Rouen and the Seine estuary. His vibrant watercolours had a profound influence on the young Monet.

A country girl (1412–31), she was encouraged by angelic voices to save France from English domination.