A Stream in the Auvergne

1830
Not on view

Rousseau is thought to have produced this closely observed yet rapidly executed sketch in the remote Auvergne region of central France at the age of eighteen, in 1830. He had earlier failed to pass even the first stage of the competition for the prestigious Prix de Rome. But he returned from the Auvergne with a large and varied group of studies whose keen sensitivity to the primordial aspects of nature impressed the circle of Romantic artists around Ary Scheffer (1795–1858), when the latter painter exhibited a selection of them, possibly including the present example, in his Paris studio.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: A Stream in the Auvergne
  • Artist: Théodore Rousseau (French, Paris 1812–1867 Barbizon)
  • Date: 1830
  • Medium: Oil on paper, laid down on canvas
  • Dimensions: 11 1/2 x 14 1/2 in. (29.2 x 36.8 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Thaw Collection, Jointly Owned by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Morgan Library & Museum, Gift of Eugene V. Thaw, 2016
  • Object Number: 2016.802.17
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

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Théodore Rousseau - A Stream in the Auvergne - The Metropolitan Museum of Art