Landscape with a Pond
ca. 1850
Medium
Black ink and gray wash on cream laid paper
Dimensions
5 5/16 x 6 15/16 in. (13.5 x 17.6 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Robert Lehman Collection
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number
1975.1.699
Art Historical Context
Théodore Rousseau, a figure of the Barbizon School in19th-century France, the raw beauty of nature in *Landscape with a Pond* (ca. 1850). This intimate drawing exemplifies his commitment to plein air observation, painting directly from the French countryside near Barbizon. As a precursor to Impressionism, Rousseau idealized landscapes, instead emphasizing atmospheric effects and the changing light over ponds, trees, and undergrowth—hallmarks of his realist style. Executed in black ink and gray wash on cream laid paper the work measures just 5 5/16 x 6 15/16 inches, suggesting it was a quick s...
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...