Sunset from the Forest of Fontainebleau

1848

Oil on paper over black chalk or conté crayon, laid down on canvas, 32.2 × 45.9 cm. National Gallery of Art, Washington

A small study of the setting sun through the trees, with cattle near water.

Rousseau settled at Barbizon and was a leading figure of the group.
It is painted on paper over a chalk drawing, a small, quick format suited to recording light.
Its subject is one hour of light in one real place, not an ideal or a story.

Barbizon school: landscape painters, among them Rousseau, Diaz, Daubigny and Troyon, who worked in and around the Forest of Fontainebleau from the 1830s.

Image: National Gallery of Art, Washington · Public domain (NGA Open Access)