Washerwomen at the Oise River near Valmondois

1865

Charles-François Daubigny

Associated Names
Charles-François Daubigny

Artist, French, 1817 - 1878

This painting shows a tranquil river scene with a distant horizon on the left showing rolling landscapes, trees, and small brown buildings across calm water. Closest to us, on the left, clusters of trees with dark branches hang over the water, casting reflections on the water's gray surface. There appear to be two people at the edge of the water who are kneeling down, but the details are unclear. The sky is light blue with small white clouds drifting across it. The color palette includes deep greens, browns, blues, and whites, and the brushstrokes are visible, with long, thick strokes for the sky and background, and shorter, dotted ones in the trees.

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery M92

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on wood

  • Credit Line

    Gift of R. Horace Gallatin

  • Dimensions

    overall: 24 x 46 cm (9 7/16 x 18 1/8 in.)
    framed: 42.9 x 63.8 x 8.9 cm (16 7/8 x 25 1/8 x 3 1/2 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1949.1.3

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Descamps-Scrive de Lille collection. (Galerie Georges Petit, Paris); sold to Meyer Goodfriend, New York;[1] (his sale, American Art Association, New York, 4 January 1923, no. 71); purchased by A.A. Aron, New York; sold 5 January 1923 to (M. Knoedler & Co., New York);[2] sold 5 November 1923 to R. Horace Gallatin [1871-1948], New York;[3] gift 1949 to NGA.
[1] According to Goodfriend sales catalogue of 4 January 1923.
[2] According to the Getty Provenance Index, citing Knoedler's records, Aron sold the painting to Knoedler's on the day following the American Art Association's Goodfriend sale. It is possible he purchased the painting on Knoedler's behalf; press reports and annotated sales catalogue list Knoedler as the purchaser.
[3] See Gallatin acquisitions notebooks, NGA Gallery Archives, copy in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1968

  • Opening exhibition and loan for display with permanent collection, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 1968-1969, no cat.

1969

  • Loan for display with permanent collection, Museum of Fine Arts. St. Petersburg, Florida, 1969-1970.

1999

  • Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 9, repro., as Landscape with Figures.

  • Around Impressionism: French Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1999, no cat.

2011

  • Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The National Art Center, Tokyo; Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, 2011, not in catalogue (shown only in Tokyo and Kyoto).

Bibliography

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 36.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 29, repro.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 92, repro.

1976

  • Hellebranth, Robert. Charles-François Daubigny, 1817-1878. Morges, 1976: 64, no. 173, repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 112, repro.

2000

  • Eitner, Lorenz. French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I: Before Impressionism. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2000: 148-150, color repro.

Inscriptions

lower left: Daubigny 1865

Wikidata ID

Q20188672

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