Skip to main content

Théodore Rousseau, 'A Rocky Landscape', about 1836-40

About the work

A sandy path runs down the middle of a rocky barren ravine. This view, with its high horizon and full-frontal close-up depiction of the path and rocks, is particularly original. The location is probably that of Les Sables du Jean-de-Paris, a sandy hillside topped with boulders and trees within the Gorges d’Apremont, in the Forest of Fontainebleau. It was one of the areas particularly favoured by Rousseau, who painted a number of views in the vicinity.

Other painters associated with the Barbizon School, including Narcisse Diaz, also painted in the area, but none of his views quite match this composition for its audacity. Rousseau’s paint handling is also bold. The central path and rocks to either side are finished in heavy grey and cream paint, thickly applied with a dry brush and possibly a palette knife, resulting in a highly textured and fragmented surface.

Key facts

Full title
A Rocky Landscape
Artist
Théodore Rousseau
Artist dates
1812 - 1867
Date made
about 1836-40
Medium and support
oil on board
Dimensions
27.9 × 43.5 cm
Acquisition credit
Presented by A.E. Anderson to the Tate Gallery through the Art Fund, 1926; transferred, 1956
Inventory number
NG4170
Location
Not on display
Collection
Main Collection

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.

More works by Théodore Rousseau

Landscape
Landscape
Théodore Rousseau
This work, with its preliminary drawing left visible, is typical of Rousseau’s later style. In the distance a chain of hills is sketched in blue. A plain in the foreground is dappled in yellow, echoing the fragmented light of the sky. In the sky itself the thin application of blue paint leaves...
Not on display
Landscape with Stormy Sunset
Landscape with Stormy Sunset
Théodore Rousseau
Under a stormy sunset sky a distant range of mountains is strung out along the horizon. In the foreground a figure stands at the edge of what is possibly an expanse of water. This view was probably painted in 1844, when Rousseau travelled with Jules-Louis Dupré to the Landes, a region south of Bo...
Not on display
River Scene
River Scene
Théodore Rousseau
In the middle distance, a solitary figure fishes from a flat-bottomed boat or punt moored in an inlet of water, which may be part of a river estuary. Although there are trees, the landscape is flat and marshy with small rivulets running through it. The thin strip of grey-blue on the horizon sugge...
Not on display
The Valley of Saint-Vincent
The Valley of Saint-Vincent
Théodore Rousseau
From the grassy outcrop in the left foreground there is a vertiginous drop into the valley, which in its sweep towards the menacing line of mountains in the distance fades from green to blue. The valley is criss-crossed with dark green tree lines, the trees conjured up out of small swirls of the...
Not on display
Moonlight: The Bathers
Moonlight: The Bathers
Imitator of Théodore Rousseau
Two naked children appear to be bathing in a pool beneath a dark tree set against a cloudy, moonlit sky. A third child, who is clothed, sits on the bank near a patch of red that may be a fire.It is likely that this picture was painted by a late nineteenth-century imitator of Theodore Rousseau and...
On display elsewhere