Gustave Courbet, 'The Diligence in the Snow', 1860

The Diligence in the Snow

Gustave Courbet

Not on display

About the work

Overview

The high viewpoint in this painting opens up the prospect of the vast distance, heightening its very real feeling of terror – yet the viewpoint also places us at a safe distance from the scene, without it losing its hold. The chaos of the overturned coach, the rearing horse and the bodies flailing about in the snow is matched only by the fear of the empty, impassive expanse of forest from which no help will come. Overhead the clouds darken and thicken; snow and yet more snow is on its way.

The white paint for the rocks and snow has been heaped on, smoothed or scraped back with a palette knife; the forest has been depicted with a dry brush drawn through a layer of black paint on white. Courbet painted several snow scenes and became an acknowledged master of the genre, capturing the light and brilliance of a landscape under snow.

In-depth

The high viewpoint in this painting opens up the prospect of the vast distance, heightening its very real feeling of terror – yet the viewpoint also places us at a safe distance from the scene, without it losing its hold. The chaos of the overturned coach, the rearing horse and the bodies flailing about in the snow is matched only by the fear of the empty, impassive expanse of forest from which no help will come. The oxen hitched up to help the two horses make no progress in spite of the whip of their rider, and one of the horses rolls helpless in the snow, watched from the coach by an anxious passenger.

The trees of the forest are stark and frozen; the few abandoned chalets lay half buried, made ghostly by the frosty light. Overhead the clouds darken and thicken; more snow and yet more snow is on its way. The deep ravine that has caused the disaster is bounded in the foreground by huge, sharp rocks that glisten under a coating of fresh, crisp snow.

The painting was originally entitled Naufrage dans le Neige, or Shipwreck in the Snow. It is said to have been based on a real accident that Courbet witnessed during a hunting expedition in the Livier Forest in the Haut Jura, an area in the east of France. The forest is not far from Ornans, where the artist was born and to which he often returned. Courbet’s own life was stormy and sometimes catastrophic, since his stubborn insistence on the painting of reality, however disturbing, was greeted by public and critics with divided enthusiasm. At times he was very successful, but he always caused outrage in some quarters, with paintings such as Young Ladies on the Banks of the Seine and Burial at Ornans (Musée d’Orsay, Paris). But his land and seascapes and his scenes in the snow were always popular because of their colour and atmosphere, their immediacy and truth to life.

Courbet’s use of the palette knife in preference to, but not entirely replacing, brushes wasn’t just a question of his wish to create heavy, descriptive impasto. It was a way of showing his disdain for the smooth surfaces of the work of contemporary academic artists, such as the neo-classical painter Ingres in his Oedipus and the Sphinx. The Diligence in the Snow reveals Courbet painting at his most vivid and energetic. White paint for the rocks and snow is heaped on, smoothed or scraped back with a palette knife; the forest is depicted with a dry brush drawn through a layer of black paint on white. He painted several snow scenes and became an acknowledged master of the genre, capturing the light and brilliance of a landscape under snow. They all give a palpable feeling of icy cold, although not, perhaps, the feeling of human powerlessness against the strength and implacability of nature that this one carries.

Key facts

Details

Full title: The Diligence in the Snow
Artist: Gustave Courbet
Artist dates: 1819 - 1877
Date made: 1860
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 137.2 × 199.1 cm
Inscription summary: Signed; Dated
Acquisition credit: Sir Hugh Lane Bequest, 1917, The National Gallery, London. In partnership with Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin.
Inventory number: NG3242
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection

Provenance

Courbet’s sale, Paris, 28 June 1882, lot 6, where (according to Eudel) bought by Henri Hecht (1842–1891);. in the collection of the writer Paul Mariéton (1862–1911), from whom acquired by Paul Durand‐Ruel (1831–1922), 17 August 1907; bought by Sir Hugh Lane (1875–1915) from Durand‐Ruel, 17 August 1907; Lane Bequest 1917; for a time at the Tate Gallery; transferred in 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

1860

A. Tainturier, 'L'exposition de Besançon', Gazette des beaux-arts, 1860
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
1906

L. Vauxcelles, 'Courbet at the Salon D'automme', Les Arts, 1906
1908

H.P. Lane, Illustrated Catalogue with Biographical and Critical Notes: Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin 1908
1929

C. Léger, Courbet, Paris 1929
1932

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

J. Lindsay, Gustave Courbet: His Life and Art, Bath 1973
1977

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

K. Herding and W. Hofmann, Courbet und Deutschland (exh. cat., Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg; Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main), Cologne 1978
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.

Images

More works by Gustave Courbet

(Showing 6 of 8 works)

In the Forest

Gustave Courbet

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 l...

On display elsewhere

Still Life with Apples and a Pomegranate

Gustave Courbet

In a warm and dark room, Courbet’s rich, ripe apples seem to glow as if in firelight. The heavy earthenware bowl lined with pale blue slip seems almost too small for the weight of the fruit piled into it. Among them is a single pomegranate, squeezed in at the base of the heap.In 1871 Courbet was...

Room 25

View of Lac Léman

Gustave Courbet

Turbulent grey clouds roll across the sky. The lake beneath it is calm, but a storm threatens. It’s evening, and a tiny sailing boat in the distance is little more than a smudge on the horizon against the vivid orange and gold of the dying sun. Soft red reflections streak the surface of the water...

Not on display

Young Ladies on the Banks of the Seine (Summer)

Possibly after Gustave Courbet

Two young women lie by a river. Traditionally, such a scene would be set in an idyllic landscape, with the women as impossibly perfect ideals of youth and beauty, often in the guise of classical nudes – goddesses of Greek mythology. But this pair caused a scandal when a larger version (now in the...

Not on display

Landscape

Style of Gustave Courbet

Although inscribed G. Courbet, there is little reason to believe this is a work by Gustave Courbet, or even by one of his collaborators. The painting was previously titled L’Orage (The Storm) because of the dark grey cloud that looms over the landscape. Despite the area of bright blue sky on the...

Not on display

The Pool

Style of Gustave Courbet

In July 1873 Courbet fled France for Switzerland and settled in the town of La Tour-de-Peilz on the north shore of Lac Léman (Lake Geneva), near the French border. A label on the back of this view of a lush Alpine valley gives the location as Vevey, on the north shore of the lake and close to La...

On display elsewhere

The Sea near Palavas

Style of Gustave Courbet

This is a view of the coast at Palavas-les-Flots, a fishing village south of Montpellier. The picture is similar to seascapes that Gustave Courbet painted there during his several visits to Montpellier in the 1850s. In particular, there are resemblances to his small painting The Seaside at Pala...

Not on display

The Man with the Leather Belt: Portrait of the Artist

After Gustave Courbet

From around 1842 and into the 1850s Courbet painted about 20 self portraits in which he presented himself in different guises. This portrait is a reduced version of The Man with the Leather Belt (Musée d’Orsay, Paris), which Courbet painted around 1845–6.Courbet painted replicas of at least three...

On display elsewhere

You've viewed 6 of 8 works

Gustave Courbet, 'The Diligence in the Snow', 1860

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