Under the Birches, Evening

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Under the Birches, Evening

Artist Pierre-Étienne-Théodore Rousseau (French, 1812-1867)

Place of OriginFrance

Date1842-3

Dimensionspainting: 16 5/8 x 25 3/8 in. (42.2 x 64.5 cm)
framed: 24 1/4 x 33 1/4 x 3 1/4 in. (61.6 x 84.5 x 8.3 cm)

Mediumoil on wood panel

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LineGift of Arthur J. Secor

Object number

1933.37

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 31

Label TextThe majestic trees and extraordinary light of this painting are hallmarks of Théodore Rousseau’s landscapes. A partially obscured parish priest travels on horseback along a country lane through the late October countryside, lit by the last rays of the setting sun. Rousseau captures this fading light as a fiery glow igniting the colors of autumn. Rousseau was the leader of a group of artists known as the Barbizon School, named for the village in the forest of Fontainebleau south of Paris where they often painted. Rousseau drew his inspiration from 17th-century Dutch landscape paintings (see galleries 23, 24, and 27) and especially from the study of nature itself. He and the other Barbizon painters, such as Diaz de la Peña and Corot, believed in painting outside to capture the immediacy of nature, a practice later taken up by the Impressionists (galleries 33 and 35). Rousseau did not strictly record what he saw, however. With his paintings he sought to penetrate the mysteries of nature and to communicate his own emotional experiences of it.Published ReferencesAstruc, Z., Les 14 Stations du Salon, Paris, 1859, p. 244.

Gautier, T., "Exposition de tableaux modernes," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, V, 1860, p. 286.

Lagrange, L., "Bulletin Mensuel," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, XVIII, 1865, p. 295.

Sensier, A., Souvenirs sur Th. Rousseau, Paris, 1872, p. 132.

Cent chefs-d'oeuvre, New York, Knoedler and Petit, 1885, no. 71, (etched by F. Kratke), repr. opp. p. 62, (as Evening).

Walton, William, Chefs-d'oeuvre de l'Exposition Universelle de Paris, Philadelphia, G. Barrie, 1889, I, no. 607, pp. 42-43, repr. p. 23 (as Evening).

Michel, E., Great Masters of Landscape Painting, London, 1910, p. 79.

Dorbec, P., "L'oeuvre de Theodore Rousseau aux Salons 1849 a 1867," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, IX, 1913, p. 107.

Dorbec, P., L'art du paysage en France, Paris, 1925, pp. 106, 115.

French Art: 1200-1900, London, Royal Academy, 1932, no. 498, pl. 107.

Chefs-d'oeuvre de l'art francais, Paris, Exposition International, 1937, no. 409, pl. 78B.

Canaday, J., Mainstreams of Modern Art, New York, 1959, p. 119, repr. p. 118.

Barbizon Revisited, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 1962, no. 95, p. 28, repr. p. 32.

"The Romantic Era," Art Association of Indianapolis, Herron Museum of Art, 1965, no. 46, repr.

Granville, P., "Theodore Rousseau un siecle plus tard," L'Oeil, no. 156, Dec. 1967, pp. 14, 15, repr.

Kolpinski, J., Die Kunst des 19. Jahrhunderts, allgemeine Geschichte der Kunst, Leipzig, 1969, VI, p. 72, repr. no. 59.

Bouret, J., L'Ecole de Barbizon et le paysage francais aux XIXe siecle, Neuchatel, 1972, p. 128, repr. p. 129.

The Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, pp. 145-146, pl. 223.

Cikovsky, Nicolai, Jr., The Life and Work of George Inness, New York, 1977, p. 182, repr. fig. 26.

Canaday, John, Mainstreams of Modern Art, 2d. ed., New York, 1981, p. 162, repr.

Rosenblum, Robert and H.W. Janson, 19th Century Art, New York, 1984, p. 182, repr. (col.) pl. 30.

Eitner, Lorenz, An Outline of 19th Century European Painting, New York, 1988, vol. 1, pp. 219, 220, vol. 2, repr. p. 119.

Vaughan, William, L'Art du XIXe siecle 1780-1850, Paris, 1989, fig. 100, p. 225, (col., det.).

Adams, Stevens, The Barbizon School and the Origins of Impressionism, London, 1994, p. 96, pl. 71, pp. 100-101 (col.).

Epoque contemporaine, XIXe-XXe siecles, Paris, 1995, p. 120, repr. (col.).

Thomas, Greg M., Art and Ecology in Nineteenth-Century France: The Landscapes of Theodore Rousseau, Princeton, 2000, pp. 25, 30-31, 32, 38, 41, 44, 47, 49-50, 52, 56, 61, 133-137, 140, 203, fig. 28, p. 49 and opp. title page (det.) [as The Priest].

Schulman, Michel, Theodore Rousseau: Catalogue Raisonne de L'oeuvre Peint, Paris, 1999, no. 252, pp. 61, 175, repr. p. 61, (col.).

Rosenblum, Robert and H.W. Janson, 19th Century Art, rev. and updated ed., Upper Saddle River, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005, pp. 187-188, fig. 174 (col.).

Janson, H.W. and Anthony F. Janson, A Basic History of Western Art, 7th ed., Upper Saddle River, Pearson, 2006, pp. 464-465, fig. 22-23 (col.).

Geske, Norman, Beyond Madness: The Art of Ralph Blakelock, 1847-1919, Lincoln, University of Nebraska, 2007, p. 12, fig. 7, p. 13.

Kear, Jon, The Treasures of the Impressionists, London, Carlton, 2008, p. 9, repr. (col.).

Dixon, Christine, Turner to Monet: The Triumph of Landscape Painting, Canberra, National Gallery of Australia, 2008 no. 67, pp. 32, 184, repr. p. 33 (col.) and p. 185 (col.).

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 239, repr. (col.).

Davies, Pamela J.E., et al., Janson's Basic History of Western Art, Upper Saddle River, Pearson Education, 2009, repr. (col.) p. 493.

Barrett, Brian Dudley, Artists on the Edge: The Rise of Coastal Artists' Colonies, 1880-1920, Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2010, p. 400, repr. (col.) p. 108.

Eisenman, Stephen F., ed., From Corot to Monet: The Ecology of Impressionism, Milan, Skira, 2010, pp. 48-49, repr. p. 48.

Marozeau, Maureen and Matthieu de Sainte-Croix, Art: 365 Histoires Pour Épater La Galerie, Paris, La Martinière, 2012, p. 286, repr. (col.).

Davies, Penelope J.E., et al., Janson's History of Art: The Western Tradition , Reissued Eighth Edition, Boston, Pearson Education, 2016, p. 849, repr. (col.) fig. 24.25.

Allan, Scott, and Edouard Kopp, Unruly Nature: The Landscapes of Theodore Rousseau, Los Angeles, Getty Publications, 2016, p. 30, repr. (col.) p. 109, pl. 21.

"Calendar: Unruly Nature: The Landscapes of Theodore Rousseau", Minerva, Nov/Dec 2016, repr. (col.) p. 60.

Exhibition HistoryParis, Galerie Francis Petis, Salon Intime, Ie Exposition Boulevard des Italiens, 1860, no. 294 (as Le Cure).

Paris, Cercle de l'Union des Arts, Tableaux modernes, 1865, no. 116 (as Cure dans un chemin cruex).

Paris, Galerie Georges Petie, Cent chefs-d'oeuvre, 1883, no. 71.

Paris, Exposition Universelle, Exposition Universelle de Paris, 1889, no. 607.

London, Burlington House, 1931.

London, Royal Academy, French Art: 1200-1900, 1932, no. 498.

Paris, Exposition International, Chefs-d'oeuvre de l'art francais, 1937, no. 409.

Columbus, Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Relationships Between French Literature and Painting in the 19th Century, 1938, no. 4.

San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of the Honor; Boston, Museum of Fine Arts; Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art; Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, Barbizon Revisited, 1962-1963, no. 95.

Indianapolis, Herron Museum of Art, The Romantic Era, February-April, 1965, no. 46.

Paris, Musee de Louvre, Theodore Rousseau, 1968, no. 22.

Lyons, Musee des Beaux-Arts, L'Ecole de Barbizon: peindre en pleain air avant l'impressionism, 2002, no. 90, pp. 180, 298, repr. p. 184 (col.).

Canberra, National Gallery of Australia, Turner to Monet: The Triumph of Landscape Painting, Mar. 4-Jun. 9, 2008, no. 67.

Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, From the Collection: 300 Years of French Landscape Painting, Jul. 17-Oct. 11, 2015. < p> Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum; Copenhagen, Denmark, Ny Carslberg Glyptotek; Unruly Nature: The Landscapes of Theodore Rousseau, June 21, 2016-January 8, 2017.