Boy on the Rocks

1895/1897

Henri Rousseau

Artist, French, 1844 - 1910

A pale-skinned boy with round, almost doll-like proportions sits on pointed rocks in front of a pale blue sky in this slightly stylized, vertical painting. The boy’s body and face are square to us. His dark hair is neatly parted to our right and combed smooth. He looks out with over-large, close-set, dark eyes under curved brows, a straight, adult-like nose, and wide, full pink lips. He has a round face, smooth, flushed cheeks, and a wide, cleft chin. He wears a black jacket that falls open over a skirt-like white garment painted with a black grid. His stockings are white with thin black stripes, and he wears ankle-high black boots. The craggy rocks on which he perches are painted with tones of peanut and ash brown. A strip of turquoise green beyond the rocks suggests a body of water under the blue sky. The artist signed the painting in the lower right corner, “H. Rousseau.”

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on linen

  • Credit Line

    Chester Dale Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 55.4 x 45.7 cm (21 13/16 x 18 in.)
    framed: 84.1 x 74.3 cm (33 1/8 x 29 1/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1963.10.63

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 29 April 1927, no. 74); purchased by Chester Dale [1883-1962], New York; bequest 1963 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1928

  • Loan Exhibition of Modern French Art from the Chester Dale Collection for the Benefit of the French Hospital of New York, Wildenstein Galleries, 1928, no. 36

1942

  • Henri Rousseau, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1942, unnumbered cat., repro.

1943

  • Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1943-1951, unnumbered cat., repro.

1965

  • The Chester Dale Bequest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965, unnumbered checklist.

2005

  • Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris, Tate Modern, London; Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2005-2006, no. 9, repro. (shown only in Washington).

2018

  • Outliers and American Vanguard Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2018-2019, no. 32 (shown only in Washington).

Bibliography

1929

  • Dale, Maud. Before Manet to Modigliani from the Chester Dale Collection. New York, 1929: no. 67, repro.

1943

  • Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. Philadelphia, 1943:, unpaginated, repro.

1961

  • Bouret, Jean. Henri Rousseau; Catalogue raisonne. Neuchatel, 1961: no.84.

1963

  • MacNeil, Neil. "Chester Dale: Collector." McCalls (November 1963): 124, repro.

1965

  • Twentieth Century French Paintings & Sculpture of the French School in the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965 (rev. ed.): 80, repro.

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 117.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 104, repro.

1970

  • Vallier, Dora. L'opera completa di Rousseau il Doganiere. Paris: Flammarion, 1970.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 312, repro.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 536, no. 807, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 358, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: H. Rousseau

Wikidata ID

Q4952174

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