The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 22, 2025

Landscape Near Paris

c. 1840

attributed to Georges Michel

(French, 1763–1843)
France, 19th century
oil on fabric
Framed: 105.6 x 146.4 x 9.6 cm (41 9/16 x 57 5/8 x 3 3/4 in.); Unframed: 88.8 x 129.5 cm (34 15/16 x 51 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Noah L. Butkin 1975.78
Location: Not on view

Description

The location of this scene, probably near Paris, has not been identified with certainty. Unlike most painters of this time, Michel never traveled to Italy and focused only on depicting locations in France. Michel was always interested in Dutch art, however, and was nicknamed the "French Ruisdael"-a reference to the 17th-century Dutch landscape painter Jacob van Ruisdael (1628-1682). After about 1808, Michel explored personal interpretations of landscape, focusing on light, sky, and space. The brooding, vaguely threatening atmosphere in this painting embodies the Romantic notion that human beings are insignificant relative to the larger forces of nature.
  • Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1975.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 63, no. 2 (February 1976): 31–71. Reproduced: p. 44; Mentioned: p. 67, no. 61 www.jstor.org
    Talbot, William S. “Some French Landscapes: 1779-1842.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 65, no. 3 (March 1978): 75–91. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 83-84, fig. 10 www.jstor.org
    Argencourt, Louise d', and Roger Diederen. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 4. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 437-439, Vol. II, no. 151
    Tapie, Alain. "La Maniere de Georges Michel et la Dimension du Sublime." In Georges Michel, 1763-1843: Le Paysage Sublime. Magali Briat-Philippe, and Ger Luijten, eds., 59-63. Bourg-en-Bresse: Monastère Royal de Brou; Paris: Fondation Custodia, Collection Frits Lugt, 2017. Reproduced: P. 60, fig. 49
  • Noon, Patrick, Contable to Delacroix: British Art and the French Romantics (London: Tate Publishing ©2003), fig. 56, p. 202.
    St. Paul, James J. Hill House. Homecoming: The Art Collection of James J. Hill (1991), no. 27 (repr.).
    Memphis, Dixon Gallery and Gardens; Oberlin, Ohio, Allen Memorial Art Museum; Louisville, Ky., J. B. Speed Art Museum. From Arcadia to Barbizon: A Journey in French Landscape Painting (1987-88), no. 47 (repr.).
    Year in Review: 1975. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 3-March 7, 1976).
    New York, Padawer Galleries. XIX Century Landscape Masters (5-30 January 1960), no. 8, Rolling landscape with figures, as oil on paper backed by canvas, 35 x 51 in. (repr.).
  • {{cite web|title=Landscape Near Paris|url=false|author=Georges Michel|year=c. 1840|access-date=22 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1975.78