In the Forest of Fontainbleau
c. 1850
Medium
Charcoal, with stumping and black pastel, heightened with touches of white chalk, on dark tan wove paper, laid down on tan wood pulp board
Dimensions
28.5 × 42.4 cm (11 1/4 × 16 3/4 in.)
Classification
chalk
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
27873
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The forest at Fontainebleau was a favorite subject of Barbizon artists, who were by its beauty and its proximity to Paris. Rousseau, a premier Barbizon painter, was attacked by critics in the 1830s and 1840s for his humble farm and forest scenes, which they considered to be "vulgar." The two figures in this landscape may be Rousseau himself and the adopted daughter of George Sand; the two were engaged in 1845.
About the Artist
Théodore Rousseau · 1812–1867
Théodore Rousseau (1812–1867) was a French landscape painter and the leading figure of the Barbizon School, the group of artists who settled in the village of Barbizon near the Forest of Fontainebleau to paint directly from nature. Born in Paris, he showed precocious talent and studied under the academic painters Charles Rémond and Guillaume Guillon-Lethière, but quickly rejected classical landsca...