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Biography of Théodore RousseauName: Théodore RousseauBirth Date: 1812 Death Date: 1867 Place of Birth: Paris, France Nationality: French Gender: Male Occupations: painter Théodore Rousseau The French painter and draftsman Théodore Rousseau (1812-1867) was the most representative artist of the Barbizon school and an intermediary between the Dutch landscapists of the 17th century and the impressionist school.Born in Paris, Théodore Rousseau seems to have been initially stimulated to paint landscape by a cousin. The example of Dutch painting supplemented the formal instruction that Rousseau received from minor artists of his own time. A precocious artist who was painting from nature at the age of 15, he combined an analytical eye with a romantic heart.In the 1830s Rousseau established himself with a series of boldly painted and dramatic scenes from the Auvergne, such as the Torrent (ca. 1830). Among the pictures done in northern France, the Forest of Fontainebleau, Bas-Bréau (begun 1837-1839, completed 1867) is especially characteristic. The Valley of Tiffauge (1837-1841) is another outstanding illustration of an almost Flemish type of visual analysis.…showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…application of paint, and overripe in his use of color, as in Sunset near Arbonne (ca. 1865).Rousseau's fundamentally romantic spirit is well expressed in one of his own statements: "I also heard the voices of the trees ... whose passions I uncovered. I wanted to talk with them ... and put my finger on the secret of their majesty."Dependent though he was on Dutch and, to lesser degree, on English painting, Rousseau was also inspired directly by nature, as were his successors, the impressionists. Like them, he put a particular emphasis on light, but on a light that has a more symbolic and a less naturalistic character. Further Reading Little has been written about Rousseau in English. David Croal Thomson, The Barbizon School of Painters (1890), gives a 19th-century view of this group of artists. See also Charles Sprague Smith, Barbizon Days (1903). The most outstanding study is Robert C. Herbert, Barbizon Revisited (1962). |