be clearly seen in George Inness' painting 'Étretat' (1875, Wadsworth Athenaeum). "The discovery and development of iodine-rich mineral deposits in Chile about the same time the iodine-from-kelp industry reached full vigor, dealt the kelp industry another severe blow in the late 1870s. However, small quantities of kelp continued to be harvested for soda, potash and iodine in northern France". Notable people Étretat was the birthplace of Élie Halévy (1870–1937), philosopher and historian. Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893) spent most of his childhood in Étretat, at "Les Verguies". In 1882 he wrote a short story for Le Gaulois entitled "The Englishman of Étretat" (L'Anglais d'Étretat), based on encounters in 1868, as a house guest of G. E. J. Powell, with the English poet Algernon Charles Swinburne, whom he had helped save from drowning. The dried human hand displayed on one of the tables was later acquired by Maupassant to adorn his Paris apartment; it inspired another short story, "The Flayed Hand" (La Main Écorchée). In 1883 he built his own house in Étretat, "La Guillette", in the Mediterranean style in "Le Grand Val", since renamed rue Guy-de-Maupassant. Jean-Baptiste Faure (1830–1914), the great French operatic baritone whose career centred on Paris and London, also owned a villa there. A friend of the artist Édouard Manet and a keen collector of art, Faure did amateur paintings of the local area, including the scenic cliff. Claude Monet did several paintings in the area particularly of the natural cliff arches and stacks. Jacques Offenbach had a villa there called “Villa d'Orphée”, named after his operetta, Orpheus in the Underworld. In popular media Much of the filming for the fifth episode of the first season of Lupin (TV series) was completed in and near the commune. This location is significant because Maurice Leblanc, the creator of the character Arsène Lupin (a fictional master thief) featured in 17 novels and 39 novellas, lived in the commune. He wrote much of the series at his home. (In total, Leblanc wrote over 60 novels and short stories.) That home is now the Clos Lupin Museum. Gallery: Étretat in paintings See also Communes of the Seine-Maritime department Etretat Churchyard Etretat Gardens References External links Alternative site of Étretat 3D view from Google Earth of part of Étretat's cliffs The full story of English eccentric Algernon Swinburne's near drowning at Etretat and his meeting with Maupassant (English) Cliffs of Metropolitan France Communes