The Beech in the Forest of L'Isle Adam

Artist Théodore Rousseau French, 1812–1867

Datecirca 1866–1867

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions31 1/2 x 39 1/4 in. (80 x 99.7 cm)
Frame: 38 3/4 x 46 1/2 x 3 3/4 in. (98.4 x 118.1 x 9.5 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the North Carolina State Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest)

Object number68.2.1

On View

On view

Label TextRousseau completed this landscape during the final years of his life. The thick, uneven texture of his paint application replicates the rough terrain of the French countryside.

In 1848, after being rejected from several Salons, Rousseau had moved to the village of Barbizon, about thirty-five miles south of Paris. His paintings of this area eventually gained recognition, and he was named a knight of the Legion of Honor under Emperor Napoleon III in 1852. Rousseau used his success to advocate for the ecological protection of the forest of Fontainebleau, which in 1861 became the world’s first nature preserve.
[M. Frederick, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," 2022]ProvenanceWillstach Collection, Philadelphia; Hirschl & Adler GalleryPublished ReferencesFrench Landscape Painters from Four Centuries (exhibition catalogue) (New York: Finch College Museum of Art, 1965), cat. no. 21.

Focus on Light (exhibition catalogue) (Trenton, NJ: New Jersey State Museum Cultural Center, 1967), cat. no. 86.

The Art Quarterly 31, no. 3 (Autumn 1968), 315, illus. 324.

"Acquisitions," North Carolina Museum of Art Bulletin 9, nos. 1-2 (December 1969), briefly discussed 9, listed 58, illus. (color) cover.

La Chronique des Arts (Supplement to the Gazette des Beaux-Arts) no. 1213 (February 1970), 80, illus.

Exhibition Number One from the Permanent Collection (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1970), 98, illus. (b-w) 99.

Edgar Peters Bowron, ed., Introduction to the Collections (Chapel Hill: published for the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, by The University of North Carolina Press, 1983), illus. (b-w) 156.
Exhibition HistoryAmerican Federation of Arts, "Roads to Impressionism," 1964, cat no. 45.

New York, NY, Finch College Museum of Art, "French Landscape Painters from Four Centuries," October 20, 1965-January 9, 1966, cat. no. 21.

Trenton, NJ, New Jersey State Museum Cultural Center, "Focus on Light," May 20-September 10, 1967, cat. no. 86.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art "Exhibition Number One from the Permanent Collection," October 1970, 98, illus. (b-w) 99.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement

The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) makes images of its collection available online to support research and scholarship and to inform and educate the public. Certain works of art, as well as the photographs of those works of art, may be protected by copyright, trademark, or related interests not owned by the NCMA. The responsibility for ascertaining whether any such rights exist and for obtaining all other necessary permissions remains with the applicant. To request images and/or permissions from the NCMA, please complete our online request form.