European school of the late 19th century

European school of the late 19th century.
Untitled.
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Signed in the lower left corner "V. de Launay".
Measurements: 120 x 170 cm.
This work is part of a pictorial tradition that gave great importance to the representation of nature and the rural environment. During this period, the landscape was consolidated as an autonomous genre within European painting, influenced by currents such as realism and impressionism, which sought to capture the atmosphere, the light and the daily life of the countryside.
In this artistic context, painters of the late 19th century progressively moved away from the romantic idealization of landscape to focus on a more direct observation of the natural environment. Rural scenes, roads, fields and vegetation began to be represented more naturally, showing the relationship between human beings and the territory they inhabit. Landscape painting thus became a means of exploring both the beauty of nature and the social changes resulting from industrialization and the transformation of the rural world.