CLARK ART INSTITUTE ACQUIRES BARBIZON SCHOOL PAINTING BY ROUSSEAU

THE STERLING AND FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE, WILLIAMSTOWN, MA, HAS ANNOUNCED THE ACQUISITION OF A MAJOR 19th CENTURY LANDSCAPE PAINTING BY PIERRE ETIENNE THEODORE ROUSSEAU. THE ACQUISITION BRINGS TO THE PUBLIC ONE OF THE GREATEST BARBIZON SCHOOL PAINTINGS, 'FARM IN THE LANDES (HOUSE IN THE GARDE), WHICH UNTIL NOW HAS BEEN HELD IN PRIVATE COLLECTIONS AND HAS NOT BEEN WIDELY EXHIBITED SINCE 1946. "THE PAINTING IS A MOVING TESTAMENT TO ROUSSEAU'S ABIDING LOVE FOR RURAL LIFE AND UNADORNED NATURE", SAID THE SENIOR CURATOR AT THE CLARK. "THIS LARGE SCALE PICTURE TRANSFORMS THE CLARK'S COLLECTION OF BARBIZON PICTURES." ROUSSEAU WORKED ON THE FARM IN THE LANDES FOR NEARLY TWENTY FIVE YEARS. THE PAINTING HAD ITS ORIGINS IN A TRIP TO THE REGION JUST SOUTH OF BORDEAUX IN 1844. AT THE TIME HE MADE A COMPOSITION DRAWING AND OIL PAINTING NEARLY AS LARGE AS THE FINAL WORK. UPON RETURNING TO HIS BARBIZON STUDIO, ROUSSEAU WORKED ON THE CANVAS OVER THE ENSUING DECADES. THE PAINTING WAS ONE OF THREE INITIALLY PURCHASED IN 1852 BY FREDERIC HARTMAN, AN ALSATIAN INDUSTRIALIST AND ONE OF THE ARTIST'S MOST IMPORTANT PATRONS. OWING TO ROUSSEAU'S OBSESSIVE WORK, HARTMAN WAS UNABLE TO COLLECT HIS PICTURE UNTIL WELL AFTER THE ARTIST'S DEATH IN 1867. ONE OF THE KEY FIGURES IN THE BARBIZON SCHOOL, ROUSSEAU WROTE TO HARTMAN THAT THE FARM IN THE LANDES WAS ONE OF HIS BEST AND MOST PERSONAL WORKS. IT DEPICTS A REGION OF SOUTHWESTERN FRANCE THAT THE ARTIST LIKENED TO EDEN. MONUMENTAL OAKS, SILHOUETTED AGAINST AN INTENSE BLUE SKY, DOMINATE A SCENE OF A HUMBLE FARM WARMED BY LATE AFTERNOON SUNLIGHT. A DUSTY PATH LEADS THROUGH A RUSTIC GATE INTO A BUSY FARMYARD WHERE A DOG SITS PATIENTLY, A MAN REPAIRS A WAGON WHEEL WHILE A CHILD LOOKS ON, A WOMAN FEEDS COWS AND A SECOND WOMAN HANGS WASHING BEFORE A BARN WITH A GREAT THATCHED ROOF.