Daubigny, Charles-François (1817-1878)
Bord de rivière (River Bank)
1866
Oil on panel, 26.5 x 46 cm
Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
Daubigny was perhaps one of the most important artists of the Barbizon School, which took its name from the village of Barbizon, not far from Paris. This work was painted from life ‘s when Daubigny was travelling in his boat-studio along the rivers Loing, Oise and Seine. The composition seems like a fragment from some larger panorama. On this grey, windy day, the sky is filled with clouds. To the left on the bank is a group of tall, slender pines, and a flock of ducklings swims in the river in the foreground. In his works, Daubigny sought to precisely reproduce the forms of tree crowns, the particular relief of each locality and the atmospheric state of nature. The dark, intense colour scheme and dynamic manner of painting are typical of the artist’s later period, and the habit of painting in the open air directly from life, with an interest in conveying effects of light-and-air medium, anticipates the painterly searchings of the Impressionists. (SHM)