River Landscape

One of the foremost landscape painters of the mid-19th century, Charles-François Daubigny sought pictorial landscape effects that were spontaneous, true, and freed from classical conventions. Drawn to rustic and humble themes, he helped make these acceptable subjects for painting. He was trained first by his father, Edmé-François (1789–1843), and then in the studio of Paul Delaroche (1797–1856). He was a close friend of Camille Corot (1796–1875), another distinguished landscape painter. Although Daubigny traveled a great deal, both in France and abroad, he was partial to the rivers around Paris: the Seine, the Marne, and the Oise. He navigated by boat, looking for the most advantageous angles from which to frame his chosen motifs, and tying up his boat once he had found them. The horizontal format of this River Landscape intensifies the effect of the lowering clouds and the massive tree at left. While the lone figure in the boat is a typical Romantic trope, the sketchy facture and attention to the changing aspects of nature herald the work of certain Impressionists, including Claude Monet (1840–1903). Daubigny also produced an important corpus of prints, including two etchings in the Smart Museum collection (see Accession No. 2004.137 and 1967.116.82)