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[Théodore] Rousseau

Creator

French Photographer · 1820–1910

MakerLithographerEngraver

> The sun is only the practitioner, M[r]. Nadar is the artist who wants to give him some work. So wrote a critic of Gaspard Félix Tournachon in 1859. Tournachon's nickname, Nadar, derived from youthful slang, but became his professional signature and the name by which he is best known today. Poor but talented, Nadar began by scratching out a living as a freelance writer and caricaturist. His writi

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Date: 1855–1859
Medium: Salted paper print
Culture: French
Department: Photographs
Institution: Getty Museum

Pierre-Étienne-Théodore Rousseau was one of the leading artists of the Barbizon School, also called the *plein-air* (open air) landscape school of painters. Nadar much admired the Barbizon painters and their emphasis on nature, declaring that among them Rousseau "has long exhausted praise." Rousseau's melancholy landscapes displayed a wild and untamed view of nature, seemingly incongruous with the refined figure seen here. Rousseau stands looking at the camera with a directness not evident in most of Nadar's portraits. The photographer conveys Rousseau's strong, intense character; only the unbuttoned second button on his overcoat suggests any lack of discipline on the part of this sitter.

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