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Edge of the Woods (Plain of Barbizon near Fontainebleau)
Théodore Rousseau (French, 1812–1867)
about 1850–60
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
54.6 x 65.4 cm (21 1/2 x 25 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Mrs. David P. Kimball
Accession Number23.399
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Rousseau likely based this composition on a sketch executed several years earlier. Completed in his studio, it showcases the artist’s skill at rendering fine details of varied surfaces: short, scrubby bushes and grasses cover the ground beneath the richly textured golden leaves, while delicate clouds are gently lit by the late afternoon sun. The reflection of a humble peasant gathering wood appears in a puddle on the well-trodden path.
InscriptionsLower left: T H. Rousseau
ProvenanceBy the 1860s, Gustave Arosa (b. 1818 - d. 1883), Saint-Cloud, France; February 25, 1878, Arosa sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, lot 66, sold for 8900 fr. to Hector Brame (dealer), Paris [see note 1]. Possibly with Samuel Putnam Avery (b. 1822 - d. 1904), New York. Possibly with Vose Galleries, Boston [see note 2]. Clara Bertram Kimball (b. 1838 - d. 1920), Boston; by inheritance to her husband, David P. Kimball (b. 1833 - d. 1923), Boston; 1923, bequest of Mrs. David P. Kimball to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 6, 1923)
NOTES:
[1] The artist exhibited the work at the Paris Salon of 1859 (no. 2641). By the time it was sold from the collection of Gustave Arosa in 1878, it was said to have been in the seller's collection for more than ten years (Ph. Burty, introduction to the catalogue, v). Many thanks to Scott Allan of the Getty Museum for his assistance with this research.
[2] On the reverse of the painting, in pencil, is a number identified by Charles C. Cunningham as possibly the mark of Samuel Putnam Avery (b. 1822 - d. 1904), a New York art dealer. It is not known for certain whether his gallery is associated with this stock number, or whether it played a role in the importation and sale of this painting. Cunningham identified another mark as possibly coming from Vose Galleries, Boston, but this has not been verified.
NOTES:
[1] The artist exhibited the work at the Paris Salon of 1859 (no. 2641). By the time it was sold from the collection of Gustave Arosa in 1878, it was said to have been in the seller's collection for more than ten years (Ph. Burty, introduction to the catalogue, v). Many thanks to Scott Allan of the Getty Museum for his assistance with this research.
[2] On the reverse of the painting, in pencil, is a number identified by Charles C. Cunningham as possibly the mark of Samuel Putnam Avery (b. 1822 - d. 1904), a New York art dealer. It is not known for certain whether his gallery is associated with this stock number, or whether it played a role in the importation and sale of this painting. Cunningham identified another mark as possibly coming from Vose Galleries, Boston, but this has not been verified.