Gustave Courbet, 'In the Forest', 1859

In the Forest

Gustave Courbet

On loan: Long Loan to The Hugh Lane (2019 - 2031), Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, Dublin, Ireland

About the work

Overview

A few rays of sunlight break through the canopy of this tranquil forest, reflecting off the surface of a small pool and the nearby trees. A hind is visible at the water’s edge, head bent down to drink, while a stag rests on the grass in the foreground.

Although he was regarded as an accomplished landscape painter in his lifetime, Courbet became better known for his figurative paintings – yet landscapes make up more than two-thirds of his body of work. His approach to landscape painting was incredibly modern. He moved away from the traditional use of landscapes as a backdrop for biblical, mythological or historical events, instead using them as an opportunity to depict a feeling of vitality, immediacy and freedom of expression. To achieve this effect he used a variety of tools to apply paint, from a palette knife to his own thumbs.

In-depth

In this tranquil forest a stag rests on the grass while a hind drinks from a pool. A few rays of sunlight reflect off the surface of the water and the nearby trees. The effect of dense foliage, which casts shadows on the scene below, has been achieved by Courbet’s use of a stippled brush to paint in the mass of leaves.

Courbet used a range of tools to apply paint, from small and thick brushes to a palette knife; he even used his thumbs. These techniques went against the formal conventions of the French art academies, but they meant that Corubet’s paintings had a rough finish that expressed the spontaneity he wished to capture.

Courbet painted numerous forest scenes. Most of them show the woods of the Franche-Comté, but some depict the forest of Fontainebleau, 60 km south-east of Paris. His approach to landscape painting was very modern. Traditionally, landscapes were used as the backdrop to biblical, mythological or historical events, but Courbet chose to capture the natural world in its own right, in all its vitality and immediacy.

While Courbet would often paint outdoors rather than in his studio, the placement of the stag and the hind suggest that this is an imagined scene, made up from multiple studies of the forest and its wildlife. He may have been particularly drawn to this type of picture as he was an avid hunter.

Key facts

Details

Full title: In the Forest
Artist: Gustave Courbet
Artist dates: 1819 - 1877
Date made: 1859
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 80 × 99.1 cm
Acquisition credit: Sir Hugh Lane Bequest, 1917, The National Gallery, London. In partnership with Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin.
Inventory number: NG3241
Location: On loan: Long Loan to The Hugh Lane (2019 - 2031), Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, Dublin, Ireland
Collection: Main Collection

Provenance

NG 3241 was in the collection of novelist George Sand (1804–1876); her sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 23 April 1864, lot 4 (Cerfs dans une forêt), sold for 350 francs; anonymous sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 27 March 1868, lot 40 (Cerfs en forêt, 81 × 98 cm); in the collection of A. Hartmann; his sale, Paris, 10 February 1873, lot 56 (Intérieur de Forêt), 3,208 francs; according to Fernier, NG 3241 was in the collection of the sculptor, painter, poet and art critic Zacharie Astruc (1835–1907) and was lot 10 of his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 11–12 April 1878 (Cerf au Bord d’une Rivière). However, lot 10 of that sale was found to be Chardin, Portrait de Mme Siméon Chardin and there were no other paintings by Courbet; according to Fernier, NG 3241 was in the Walls [sic] Collection in 1878, perhaps Henry Wallis (1805?–1890), owner of the French Gallery until 1871, when he retired in favour of his son Thomas; in the collection of Alexander Reid (1854–1928); his sale, Paris, 10 June 1898, lot 20 (Dans la Forêt), sold for 1,300 francs to Paul Durand‐Ruel (1831–1922); in the collection of James Staats Forbes (1823–1904) by 1901, from whose executors acquired by Sir Hugh Lane (1875–1915) in 1906 or 1907 for £555; Lane Bequest 1917; for a time at the Tate Gallery; transferred 1950.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Sarah Herring, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Nineteenth Century French Paintings’, vol. 1, ‘The Barbizon School’, London 2019; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2006

Long Loan to The Hugh Lane (2006 - 2019)

Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane

31 December 2006 - 18 April 2021
2021

Long Loan to The Hugh Lane (2019 - 2031)

Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane

24 February 2021 - 23 February 2031

Bibliography

1859

Z. Astruc, Les 14 stations du Salon 1859, Paris 1859
1882

P. Eudel, L'Hôtel Drouot et la curiosité en 1881 jusqu'en 1888, 9 vols, Paris 1882
1906

G. Riat, Gustave Courbet: Peintre, Paris 1906
1929

C. Léger, Courbet, Paris 1929
1932

T. Bodkin, Hugh Lane and his Pictures, Dublin 1932
1941

L. Venturi, Peintres modernes: Goya, Constable, David, Ingres, Delacroix, Corot, Daumier, Courbet, Paris 1941
1957

Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: French School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1957
1970

Davies, Martin, and Cecil Gould, National Gallery Catalogues: French School: Early 19th Century, Impressionists, Post-Impressionists etc., London 1970
1973

R. Bonniot, Gustave Courbet en Saintonge, Paris 1973
1975

K. Herding, 'Egalität und Autorität in Courbet's Landschaftsmalerei', Städel-Jahrbuch, V, 1975, pp. 159-99
1977

R. Fernier, La vie et l'oeuvre de Gustave Courbet: Catalogue raisonné, 2 vols, Paris 1977
1978

M. Brötje, 'Das Bild als Parabel: Sur Landschaftsmalerei Gustave Courbets', Jahrbuch der Hamburger Kunstsammlungen, XXIII, 1978, pp. 75-106
1981

A.M. Wagner, 'Courbet's Landscapes and Their Market', Art History, IV, 1981, pp. 410-31
1990

M. Fried, Courbet's Realism, Chicago 1990
1991

K. Herding, Courbet: To Venture Independent, New Haven 1991
1994

C. Phillips, 'National Gallery, II: Sir Hugh Lane's Pictures', in J. House, Impressionism for England: Samuel Courtauld as Patron and Collector, London 1994
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2019

Herring, Sarah, National Gallery Catalogues: The Nineteenth Century French Paintings, 1, The Barbizon School, London 2019

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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You've viewed 6 of 8 works

Gustave Courbet, 'In the Forest', 1859

About the work

Overview

In-depth

Key facts

Details

Provenance

Additional information

Source

Exhibition history

Bibliography

About this record

Images

More works by Gustave Courbet