Landscape with Boatman

c. 1860

Théodore Rousseau

Associated Names
Théodore Rousseau

Artist, French, 1812 - 1867

The painting shows a landscape with a calm body of water stretching across the center, beyond a brown bank of rocks and short green grass. A thin tree rises up on the left. To the right of center, a person can be seen on a boat, silhouetted against the blue water. Beyond the water are flat green fields with distant trees. To the left of center, a small gray house can be seen next to a tall tree, wisps of gray smoke rising out of its chimney. The sky above is blue with large clouds in shades of light gray and white, and the distance is illuminated by pale light. The water reflects the blue and white of the sky, along with the green and brown of the house and the distant bank.

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: 19.4 x 26.3 cm (7 5/8 x 10 3/8 in.)
    framed: 39.4 x 46.4 x 5.7 cm (15 1/2 x 18 1/4 x 2 1/4 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1949.1.10

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Solomon Goldschmidt; (his sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 17 May 1888, no. 45 as La Rivière); (Bague). (M. Knoedler & Co., New York).[1] Maurice Gentien;[2] (his sale, Galerie George Petit, 3-4 December 1923, no.45, as La Rivière); purchased on joint account by (Arthur Tooth & Sons, London) and (M. Knoedler & Co., New York);[3] sold 8 January 1924 to R. Horace Gallatin [1871-1948], New York;[4] gift 1949 to NGA.
[1] According to Michel Schulman, Theodor Rousseau 1812-1867, 2 vols., Paris, 1997-1999, this may be the same as the Paysage normand that Goldschmidt bought from Goupil in 1879, that Goupil had bought from Everard in 1875.
[2] A note on the NGA accession card mistakenly gives the name as Maurice Geautier.
[3] According to Knoedler Stock Book 7, page 71, row 15, stock no. 15886, Getty Research Institute.
[4] According to Gallatin acquisitions notebooks, NGA Gallery Archives, copies in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1954

  • Extended loan for use by The White House, Washington, D.C., 1954-1955.

1967

  • Loan for display with permanent collection, Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, 1967-1971.

2016

  • Unruly Nature: The Landscapes of Théodore Rousseau, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, 2016-2017, no. 48, repro.

Bibliography

1965

  • 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.

1975

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

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 359, 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: 340-342, color repro.

Inscriptions

lower left: TH.Rousseau.

Wikidata ID

Q20188420

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