Villerville Seen from Le Ratier

1855

Charles François Daubigny

(French, 1817–1878)

Culture

France, 19th century

Medium

oil on fabric

Measurements

Framed: 80 x 141.5 x 7.5 cm (31 1/2 x 55 11/16 x 2 15/16 in.); Unframed: 54.2 x 116.2 cm (21 5/16 x 45 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

Bequest of William G. Mather 1951.323

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Location

220 19th Century European

Did You Know?

Daubigny turned his boat, Le Botin (Little Box), into a studio where he painted while cruising the Seine, Marne, and Oise rivers in France.

Description

The town of Villerville on the Normandy coast appears just to the right of center in this expansive landscape by Daubigny, a pioneer of outdoor painting and a major influence on Claude Monet and the Impressionists. Daubigny introduced a new kind of natural landscape based on outdoor studies of light, water, and atmospheric conditions. Here, streaks of bright light along the horizon set off the dark masses of the rocky shore in the foreground.