Gustave Courbet (Ornans, Franche-Comté, France, 1819 - 1877, La Tour-de-Peilz, Vaud, Switzerland)
A View Across the River, about 1855
Oil on canvas , 46 x 56 cm (18 1/8 x 22 1/16 in.)
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This horizontal rectangular oil painting by Gustave Courbet is done from a slightly elevated perspective overlooking a lush green landscape with two small female figures in the extreme foreground and a town in the distance. The women wear long gowns and have their arms around each other. The figure on the left holds a parasol and the figure on the right has her arm outstretched. A river cuts across the painting from lower right to the middle left. A small town with many light tan, brown-roofed buildings is visible across the river. Beyond that are rolling green hills with a light grey range of mountains above. The sky is a pale greenish off-white color.
Blue Room
Commentary
This landscape painting by the 19th century French Realist artist Gustave Courbet is a view of the artist’s hometown of Ornans, a small commune along the Loue river in eastern France. Today it is known as the “Little Venice of Franche-Comte.” Painted from life in about 1855, Courbet championed the artistic style of Realism— painting what you saw in an attempt to accurately and realistically depict contemporary life. This painting shows two women side by side in the foreground standing among lush green foliage, admiring the view of the cliffs and the town across a chasm. Isabella likely purchased the painting in 1877, which makes it one of her earliest acquisitions. She displayed the painting in her Brookline home known as Green Hill until 1919. After she sold the property, she installed the landscape in the Museum’s Blue Room.