id: 149946 accession number: 1980.18 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1980.18 updated: 2024-03-26 01:59:45.258000 The Fisherman (Le Pêcheur), c. 1840–45. Théodore Rousseau (French, 1812–1867). Pen and brown ink and brush, gray and black wash (scratched away in places), with touches of pink watercolor; sheet: 20.9 x 28 cm (8 1/4 x 11 in.); secondary support: 20.9 x 28 cm (8 1/4 x 11 in.); tertiary support: 29.6 x 37.9 cm (11 5/8 x 14 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1980.18 title: The Fisherman (Le Pêcheur) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1840–45 creation date earliest: 1835 creation date latest: 1850 current location: creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: France, 19th century technique: pen and brown ink and brush, gray and black wash (scratched away in places), with touches of pink watercolor department: Drawings collection: DR - French type: Drawing find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Théodore Rousseau (French, 1812–1867) - artist Introduced to landscape painting through his cousin Pau de Saint-Martin (q.v.), Rousseau entered the studio of Jean-Charles-Joseph Rémond (1795-1875) in 1826 and was later taught by history painter Guillaume Lethière (1760-1832). The young artist copied the works of Claude Lorrain (1600-1682) and Dutch seventeenth-century landscape painters at the Louvre, and he was intrigued by contemporary painters such as Constable (q.v.) and Bonington (q.v.). His foremost interest, however, was the study of nature. In 1830 he traveled extensively through the Auvergne and was much inspired by the wilderness of this region. Scheffer (q.v.), who admired Rousseau's nature studies from this period, introduced him to the Paris art circles of Charles Baudelaire and Delacroix (q.v.). In the early 1830s Rousseau also met Corot (q.v.) and became very close friends with Dupré (q.v.). Rousseau exhibited at the Salons of 1831 and 1833-35. After 1836 he began to travel extensively throughout France, notably to the forest of Fontainebleau and to Barbizon, where he would return every year and become the leader of the group of romantic-naturalist artists, the so-called Barbizon School. In the 1850s he also became increasingly involved in the movement to preserve the forest of Fontainebleau from industrialization. From 1836 until 1841 all of Rousseau's works were refused at the Salon because the jury advocated a more classicizing landscape painting. As he was also often passed over for official honors, the artist became known as "le grand refusé" and abstained from showing his work at the Salon most of the 1840s. After the 1848 revolution, the new regime under Napoleon III rated his work more favorably, even granting him a first-class medal at the 1849 Salon, so he no longer had to submit his work to the jury. Yet Rousseau had not been awarded the Legion of Honor, an even stronger insult when Dupré received it. In the early 1850s Rousseau befriended Millet (q.v.), and the two often worked together in Barbizon. Rousseau's international breakthrough occurred at the 1855 Exposition Universelle, where his work was exhibited in a gallery that he shared with Decamps (q.v.). Throughout his career, however, the sale of his work was unstable, partly because not showing regularly at the Salon limited his exposure. The artist therefore even had to organize two auctions (1850, 1861) of his works in order to make money, but the results were disappointing. Rousseau exhibited thirteen paintings at the Exposition Universelle of 1867 and figured as president of the jury. Yet because of his animosity with Comte de Nieuwerkerke, directeur-général des musées impériaux, the artist only received a grand medal and not the anticipated highest rank, Officer of the Legion of Honor. The lesser medal was awarded only after heavy protest from Rousseau's friends, five months before his death, and Nieuwerkerke had the last word, refusing to honor the artist with a posthumous retrospective as would have been expected. Although Barbizon painters such as Rousseau are noted for their study from nature, many worked on their larger canvases in the studio. And even though his art was still rooted in a romantic spirit, Rousseau's plein-air studies and his preoccupation with the rendering of specific light effects were instrumental for the development of impressionism. --- measurements: Sheet: 20.9 x 28 cm (8 1/4 x 11 in.); Secondary Support: 20.9 x 28 cm (8 1/4 x 11 in.); Tertiary Support: 29.6 x 37.9 cm (11 5/8 x 14 15/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: description: beige(1) wove paper laid down on brown wove paper perimeter mounted to a false margin of beige(1) wove paper watermarks: inscriptions: inscription: signed, lower left, in brown ink: TH. Rousseau ; VERSO OF SECONDARY SUPPORT, upper left, in graphite: 2830 [circled] ; upper left, in graphite: Th Rousseau / The Fisherman / id. x. x. ; upper left, in graphite: 52149 ; VERSO OF TERTIARY SUPPORT, upper right, in black fiber-tipped pen: D 19 [sideways] translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review: 1980 opening date: 1981-06-24T04:00:00 Year in Review: 1980. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 24-July 19, 1981). title: The Graphic Art of the Barbizon School opening date: 1987-03-17T05:00:00 The Graphic Art of the Barbizon School. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 17-May 17, 1987). title: French Drawings from the Collection opening date: 1994-12-13T05:00:00 French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 1995). title: Nature Sublime: Landscapes from the 19th Century opening date: 2004-08-15T00:00:00 Nature Sublime: Landscapes from the 19th Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 15-November 14, 2004). title: Unruly Nature: The Landscapes of Théodore Rousseau opening date: 2016-06-21T00:00:00 Unruly Nature: The Landscapes of Théodore Rousseau. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (June 21-September 11, 2016). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE [Schaeffer Galleries, New York] date: footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Allan, Scott and Édouard Kopp. Unruly Nature: The Landscapes of Théodore Rousseau. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2016. page number: 111,170 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1980.18/1980.18_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1980.18/1980.18_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1980.18/1980.18_full.tif