Théodore Rousseau: Difference between revisions

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1812|04|15|df=y}}

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1867|12|22|1812|04|15|df=y}}

'''Étienne Pierre Théodore Rousseau''' (15 April 15, 1812 –{{snd}}22 December 22, 1867) was a French painter of the [[Barbizon school]].

[[Image:Chênes Apremont by Rousseau Louvre RF1447 n1.jpg|thumb|''Les chênes d'[[Forest of Fontainebleau|Apremont]]'' (Oak Grove, Apremont), 1850–1852]]

He was born in Paris, ofFrance in a [[bourgeois]] family.

At first he received a businessbasic level of training, but soon displayed aptitude for painting.

The influence of classically trained artists was against them, and not until 1848 was Rousseau presented adequately to the public.{{sfn|ChisholmThomson|1911}}

[[Image:Théodore Rousseau 002.jpg|left|thumb|''The Fisherman'', 1848–91848–49]]

[[File:Rousseau 20 sep 2013.jpg|thumb|''The Charcoal Burner's Hut'', (c. 1850), [[Dallas Museum of Art]]]]

He was not without champions in the press, and with the title of "''le grand refusé''" he became known through the writings of his friend Théophile Thoré, the critic who afterwards resided in England and wrote using the name Burger.{{sfn|ChisholmThomson|1911}}

During these years of artistic exile Rousseau produced some of his best pictures: "''The Chestnut Avenue"'', "''The Marsh in the Landes"'' (now in the [[Louvre]]), "''Hoar-Frost"'' (now in America); and in 1851, after the reorganization of the Salon in 1848, he exhibited his masterpiece, "''The Edge of the Forest"'' (also in the Louvre), a picture similar in treatment to, but slightly varied in subject from, the composition called "''A Glade in the Forest of Fontainebleau"'', in the [[Wallace Collection]] at [[Hertford House]], London.{{sfn|ChisholmThomson|1911}}

Until this period Rousseau had lived only occasionally at [[Barbizon]], but in 1848 he took up his residence in the forest village, and spent most of his remaining days in the vicinity. He was now able to obtain fair sums for his pictures (but only about one-tenth of their value thirty years after his death), and the number of his admirers increased. He was still ignored by the authorities, foreven while his mentee [[Narcisse Virgilio Diaz]] was made Chevalier of the [[Legion of Honour]] in 1851,.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.culture.gouv.fr/LH/LH257/PG/FRDAFAN83_OL2402002V001.htm|title=Ministère de la culture - Base Léonore|work=culture.gouv.fr}}</ref> Rousseau was left undecorated at this time, but was nominated and awarded the Cross soon afterwards. He would eventually become an Officer of the Legion of Honor. {{sfn|ChisholmThomson|1911}}

At the Exposition Universelle of 1853, where all Rousseau's rejected pictures of the previous twenty years were gathered together, his works were acknowledged to form one of the best of the many splendid groups there exhibited. But, after an unsuccessful sale of his works by auction in 1861, he contemplated leaving Paris for [[Amsterdam]] or London, or even New York.{{sfn|ChisholmThomson|1911}}

[[Image:Théodore Rousseau - Hoarfrost - Walters 3725.jpg|thumb|This''Hoarfrost'', 1845{{snd}}this painting by Rousseau shows the effects of frost on the sloping terrain.<ref>{{cite web |publisher= [[The Walters Art Museum]] |url= http://art.thewalters.org/detail/5408 |title= Hoarfrost}}</ref> [[The Walters Art Museum]].]]

[[Image:Théodore Rousseau 001.jpg|thumb|''[[Barbizon]] landscape'', cac. 1850]]

Rousseau then suffered a series of misfortunes. His wife,'s whomental health had been a source of constant anxiety for years, became almost hopelessly insaneworsened; his aged father became dependent on him for pecuniary assistance; his patrons were few. MoreoeverMoreover, while he was temporarily absent with his invalidill wife, a youth living in his home (a friend of his family) committed suicide in his Barbizon cottage;. whenWhen he visited the Alps in 1863, making sketches of [[Mont Blanc]], he became dangerously ill with inflammation of the lungs; and when he returned to Barbizon he suffered from [[insomnia]] and became gradually weakened. {{sfn|ChisholmThomson|1911}}

He was elected president of the fine-art jury for the 1867 Exposition; however, his disappointment at being denied the better awards may have affected his health, for in August he became paralyzed. He recovered slightly, but was again attacked several times during the autumn. In November his condition worsened, and he died in the presence of his lifelong friend, [[Jean-François Millet]], on 22 December 22, 1867. Millet, the peasant painter, for whom Rousseau had the greatest regard, had been much with him during the last years of his life, and at his death Millet assumed charge of theRousseau's insaneill wife.{{sfn|ChisholmThomson|1911}}

Rousseau's pictures are always grave in character, with an air of exquisite melancholy. They are well finished when they profess to be completed pictures, but Rousseau spent so much time developing his subjects that his absolutely completed works are comparatively few. He left many canvases with parts of the picture realized in detail and with the remainder somewhat vague; and also a good number of sketches and water-color drawings. His pen work in monochrome on paper is rare. There are a number of good pictures by him in the Louvre, and the Wallace collection contains one of his most important Barbizon pictures. There is also an example in the Ionides collection at the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]] in London.{{sfn|ChisholmThomson|1911}}

;'''Attribution:'''

* {{EB1911|wstitle=Rousseau, Pierre Étienne Théodore|volume=23|page=779|first=David Croal|last=Thomson}}; Endnotes:

{{Authority control (arts)}}

[[Category:LandscapeFrench landscape artists]]

[[Category:OfficiersOfficers of the LégionLegion d'honneurof Honour]]