Getty Museum
Forest of Fontainebleau, Cluster of Tall Trees Overlooking the Plain of Clair-Bois at the Edge of Bas-Bréau
Creator
Théodore RousseauFrench Artist · 1812–1867
All works by this person →From his boyhood, Théodore Rousseau passionately loved nature. He trained with academic landscapists, but his insistence on "keep[ing] in mind the virgin impression of nature" and painting pure landscape without a mythological theme earned him the hostility of France's academic establishment, making him both famous and poor. His unswerving determination to paint pure landscapes directly from natur
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- about 1849–1852
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Culture
- French
- Department
- Paintings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
A live oak dominates this late afternoon landscape. Diffuse light from the overcast sky reflects off the pond and up into the branches. The boulders, grass and broken branches in the foreground are barely suggested and the single figure making his way around the pond followed by a herd of cows is thinly sketched. Landscape painter Théodore Rousseau lived in the nearby village of Barbizon, returning often to the forest of Fontainebleau to paint. When commercial exploitation threatened the forest, Rousseau wrote to the Duke of Morny, an influential politician close to Napoleon III, to urge the preservation of the forest. During the summer Rousseau made use of a special easel and lean-to to facilitate painting outdoors. This painting belongs to a category known as *dessin-peinture* in which the artist notes the composition on site in chalk and thin layers of paint, and then returns to the studio to enhance particular elements and unite the composition.
The authoritative record is held by Getty Museum. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.
Get printable QR codesHide QR codes
Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.
Related across collections
Semantically similar works from Getty Museum and other institutions.