Attributed to Théodore Rousseau

Attributed to THÉODORE ROUSSEAU (France, 1812 - 1867).
"The mowing".
Oil on canvas.
Label signed on the back.
Measurements: 28 x 41 cm; 42,5 x 56 cm (frame).

A reaper carries a bundle of hay on his back and goes towards a cart already full of pressed straw. An ox is stopped in the middle of the road, and another seeks shade under the mountains of hay. Behind the figures a wide blue sky is dotted with wisps of wispy clouds. The brushstroke is vibrant and the stroke thick, giving rise to an impressionist language comparable to that of the Barbizon School.

One of the main representatives of the Barbizon School, characterized by a realistic vision of landscape, Théodore Rousseau shared the difficulties of the Romantic painters of 1830 in securing a place for his paintings in the Paris Salon. After being rejected at the 1836 show, he retired to Barbizon and formed, along with other artists such as Corot or Millet, the so-called Barbizon School. There he cultivated the painting of outdoor landscapes, with a treatment of nature close to that of the Dutch masters of the seventeenth century, especially focused on atmospheric and natural phenomena. It was not until 1848 that his work was properly presented to the public, when he was finally admitted to the Paris Salon. That same year he settled permanently in Barbizon, where he would spend the rest of his life. At the Universal Exhibition of 1853, where all of Rousseau's previously rejected paintings were brought together and a room was dedicated to him, he was recognized by the public and critics as one of the best participants in the show. His works are characterized by their sober character, with an air of exquisite melancholy that is powerfully attractive to the viewer. Rousseau is currently represented in leading museums around the world, including the Louvre and Orsay in Paris, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the National Gallery in London, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Frick Collection in New York, the Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid and the Albertina in Vienna, among many others.