The Pool (Memory of the Forest of Chambord)
Medium
Oil on wood
Dimensions
12 3/4 in. × 16 in. (32.4 × 40.6 cm) Framed: 17 1/2 × 21 in. (44.5 × 53.3 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
Robert Lehman Collection
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number
1975.1.204
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the serene world of Théodore Rousseau's *The Pool (Memory of Forest of Chambord)*1839), a captivating oil-on-wood landscape from the Robert Lehman Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. on a compact panel measuring just 12¾ × 16 inches, this intimate work evokes the dense, ancient forests of Chambord in France's Loire Valley. Rousseau, a leading figure in the Barbizon School, drew from memory to capture nature's quiet majesty, reflecting the Romantic era's reverence for the wild and untamed. Rousseau's meticulous brushwork on wood allowed for rich textures and luminous effect...
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...