The Wood Gatherers at Fontainebleau
Léon Germain PELOUSE
(French, 1838-1891)
The Wood Gatherers at Fontainebleau
Date1865-1890
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensionsoverall: 25 3/4 x 36 1/2 in. (65.4 x 92.7 cm)
frame: 37 3/4 × 48 3/8 × 4 1/2 in. (95.9 × 122.9 × 11.4 cm)
ClassificationPAINTINGS
Credit LineSBMA, Gift of Michael and Jan Schwartz
Object number2005.93.2
Subject(s)
- autumn
- landscape
- trees, landscape
- women
- forest
Collection
- 19th century French
On View
Not on viewCollections
Label TextAlthough Pélouse had no formal artistic training, critic Eugène Montrosier wrote in 1881 that, “To suggest that Mr. Pelouse did not have a master is perhaps not correct. He did have one, sincere, profound, always varied, always moving: Nature!” After humble beginnings as a traveling salesman, Pélouse taught himself to paint and ended his career as a highly decorated landscape artist and member of the Légion d’honneur. This image of a peasant gathering wood in the fading autumn light of the Fontainebleau forest is typical of his dark, dramatic palette. Fontainebleau was home to the Barbizon school, a group of artists who turned to direct observation of nature and the agrarian working class, elevating landscape painting from its traditional relegation below history or religious painting. While landscape painting of this variety was at one point considered revolutionary in the 1850s and 60s, the later success of artists such as Pélouse demonstrates the official recognition of the once-controversial style, which was itself being displaced by Impressionism.
Charles Émile JACQUE
