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Stream in the Forest
Gustave Courbet (French, 1819–1877)
about 1862
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
156.8 x 114 cm (61 3/4 x 44 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Samuel Parkman Oliver
Accession Number55.982
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
For this view of young deer on the bank of a stream, Courbet chose a vantage point that seems to hover in midair between the feathery treetops and their watery reflection. The artist produced a large number of wooded landscapes in the 1860s with an eye to the growing urban market for scenes of the countryside, though this canvas, likely painted in the summer of 1862, is unusual in its ambitious scale.
InscriptionsLower right: G. Courbet
Provenance1865, possibly with the artist [see note 1]. Potter Dekens, Brussels. Galerie Joseph Allard, Paris; sold by Allard to Meyer Goodfriend (b. 1860 - d. 1927), Paris and New York [see note 2]; January 4, 1923, Goodfriend sale, American Art Association, New York, lot 61, to Wildenstein and Co., New York, for $2500. Before 1929, Paul Rosenberg (b. 1881 - d. 1959), Paris [see note 3]. By 1936, Alfred Chester Beatty (b. 1875 - d. 1968), London and Dublin [see note 4]; March, 1955, sold by Beatty to Paul Rosenberg and Co., New York [see note 5]; 1955, sold by Rosenberg to the MFA for $35,000. (Accession Date: December 8, 1955)
NOTES:
[1] Courbet wrote to dealer Jules Luquet in the spring of 1865 offering to sell him a number of paintings, including a "Stag at the Water" for 300 francs, which has been tentatively identified with the MFA painting. See Correspondance de Courbet, ed. Petra ten-Doesschate Chu (Paris: Flammarion, 1996), pp. 235-236.
[2] That it belonged to Potter Dekens and was sold by Allard is according to the Goodfriend auction catalogue of 1923.
[3] The painting was published by Charles Léger, "Courbet" (Paris, 1929), pl. 52, n.p., as formerly in the collection of Paul Rosenberg.
[4] According to a label on the reverse of the painting, he lent it to the "Exhibition of Masters of French 19th century painting" (New Burlington Galleries, London, October 1 - 31, 1936), cat. no. 29 (listed as lent "from a private collection" in the exhibition catalogue). It is likely that Beatty acquired the painting from Paul Rosenberg. Mrs. Chester Beatty was a frequent client of Rosenberg, purchasing several paintings from his gallery in the 1930s. After her death, some of these were sold back to Rosenberg, at that time established in New York.
[5] According to a letter from Elaine Rosenberg of Paul Rosenberg and Co. to the MFA (June 25, 1998).
NOTES:
[1] Courbet wrote to dealer Jules Luquet in the spring of 1865 offering to sell him a number of paintings, including a "Stag at the Water" for 300 francs, which has been tentatively identified with the MFA painting. See Correspondance de Courbet, ed. Petra ten-Doesschate Chu (Paris: Flammarion, 1996), pp. 235-236.
[2] That it belonged to Potter Dekens and was sold by Allard is according to the Goodfriend auction catalogue of 1923.
[3] The painting was published by Charles Léger, "Courbet" (Paris, 1929), pl. 52, n.p., as formerly in the collection of Paul Rosenberg.
[4] According to a label on the reverse of the painting, he lent it to the "Exhibition of Masters of French 19th century painting" (New Burlington Galleries, London, October 1 - 31, 1936), cat. no. 29 (listed as lent "from a private collection" in the exhibition catalogue). It is likely that Beatty acquired the painting from Paul Rosenberg. Mrs. Chester Beatty was a frequent client of Rosenberg, purchasing several paintings from his gallery in the 1930s. After her death, some of these were sold back to Rosenberg, at that time established in New York.
[5] According to a letter from Elaine Rosenberg of Paul Rosenberg and Co. to the MFA (June 25, 1998).