G ustave Caillebotte draws upon the vivid and longstanding still life tradition in the present work. Game trophies, particularly birds, have made compelling subject matter for painters since Flemish masters popularized the genre at the beginning of the 17th century in Flanders. Like many of his fellow Impressionists, Caillebotte turned to the still life as a lucrative form of employment. It was perhaps because of the influence of Manet that he did a series of canvases dedicated to market scenes: close-up paintings of fruit for sale, cakes at a pâtisserie and in this case, fish on offer at a poissonnerie stall.

Caillebotte was interested in the production and display of new alimentary goods created in response to the changing Parisien tastes. While they may have been on the same theme as his colleagues Monet and Renoir, Caillebotte's thoughtful pictures in a way confronted the practice of these artists, whose sumptuous floral pieces catered to the consumption of paintings as luxury goods. Caillebotte, by radically cropping in on his subjects and singling them out, displayed a concern with consumption, marketing and display.

The artist was clearly specifically attracted to the painterly challenges of the subject with its glimmering scales of pink and blue. Caillebotte renders the delicate sheen of scales and their sparkling reflections deploying simple, distinct brushstrokes with astonishing economy and precision.