Riviere et falaise by Jean Desire Gustave Courbet
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The brilliance and primal side of nature is the subject of this landscape by Courbet
Key Features
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- A ruggedly beautiful landscape by Realist leader Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet
- Courbet's belief in truth through art is displayed in the primal nature of this work
- He was a master of portraying the harshness and splendor of nature
- This painting is to be included in J. J. Fernier and S. Faunce's catalog raisonné on Courbet
- Circa 1865; Signed "G. Courbet" (lower left); Oil on canvas
- Canvas: 21 1/4" high x 25 1/2" wide; Frame: 33" high x 38" wide
Item Details
- Width:
C:25 1/2" F:38" Inches - Height:
C:21 1/4" F:33" Inches - Period:
19th Century - Origin:
France - Subject:
Landscapes - Artist:
Other
Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet
1819-1877 · French
Riviere et falaise
Signed "G. Courbet" (lower left)
Oil on canvas
"I am fifty years old and I have always lived in freedom; let me end my life free; when I am dead let this be said of me: 'He belonged to no school, to no church, to no institution, to no academy, least of all to any régime except the régime of liberty." - Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet
A stunning landscape by the legendary originator and leader of the Realist movement, Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet. He was a painter of figurative compositions, landscapes and seascapes. His compositions often focused on social issues, addressing peasantry and the grave working conditions of the poor. His work belonged neither to the predominant Romantic nor Neoclassical schools. Rather, Courbet believed the Realist artist's mission was the pursuit of truth, which would help erase social contradictions and imbalances.
A master at portraying the realities and harshness of nature, his theories and techniques forever changed the contemporary academic principles of art. Born in Ornans into a prosperous farming family, he went to Paris in 1839 and worked at the studio of Steuben and Hesse. He soon left, preferring to develop his own style by studying Spanish, Flemish and French painters and painting copies of their work. His first works were influenced by the writings of Victor Hugo and George Sand, but he soon abandoned literary influences for the study of real life. A trip to the Netherlands in 1847 strengthened Courbet's belief that painters should portray the life around them, following the ideals of Rembrandt, Hals, and the other Dutch masters.
The Salon of 1850 found him triumphant with Burial at Ornans, considered the first Realist masterpiece. Toward the end of the 1860s, Courbet painted a series of increasingly erotic works, culminating in The Origin of the World (1866), depicting female genitalia, and The Sleepers (1866), featuring two women in bed. While banned from public display, the works only served to increase his notoriety. In 1870, Courbet established the Federation of Artists for the free and uncensored expansion of art. The group's members included André Gill, Honoré Daumier, Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Eugène Pottier, Jules Dalou, and Édouard Manet.
His refusal of the cross of the Legion of Honour offered to him by Napoleon III made him immensely popular with those who opposed the current regime, and in 1871 under the revolutionary Paris Commune he was placed in charge of all the Paris art museums and saved them from looting mobs. For his allowance of the destruction of the Vendôme Column (which he saw as a symbol of tyranny), he was designated as responsible for the act and accordingly sentenced by a Versailles court martial to six months in prison and a fine of 500 francs. In 1873, the newly elected president Mac-Mahon wanted to resurrect the Column, and Courbet was singled out to pay the expenses. In 1877, Courbet was sentenced to pay the fine in yearly installments of 10,000 francs for the next 33 years, until his 91st birthday. Courbet died, age 58, in La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland, the day before the payment of the first installment was due.
Circa 1865
Canvas: 21 1/4" high x 25 1/2" wide
Frame: 33" high x 38" wide
This work has been authenticated by Jean-Jacques Fernier and Sarah Faunce, for inclusion in their forthcoming catalogue raisonné on Courbet.
Provenance:
Collection Mazarov, Drouot, Paris, 13 May 1890 (as Riviere en Foret);
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 3 April 1990, lot 257
Exhibited:
Milan, Compagnia del Disegno, Gustave Courbet, 1988
Turin, Molle Antone Lliana, Courbet e l'Informale, December 1988-February 1989
Artist's Exhibitions:
École des Beaux-Arts, 1882
Artist's Museums:
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Musée Courbet, Ormans, France
The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, Russia
National Gallery, London
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
1819-1877 · French
Riviere et falaise
Signed "G. Courbet" (lower left)
Oil on canvas
"I am fifty years old and I have always lived in freedom; let me end my life free; when I am dead let this be said of me: 'He belonged to no school, to no church, to no institution, to no academy, least of all to any régime except the régime of liberty." - Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet
A stunning landscape by the legendary originator and leader of the Realist movement, Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet. He was a painter of figurative compositions, landscapes and seascapes. His compositions often focused on social issues, addressing peasantry and the grave working conditions of the poor. His work belonged neither to the predominant Romantic nor Neoclassical schools. Rather, Courbet believed the Realist artist's mission was the pursuit of truth, which would help erase social contradictions and imbalances.
A master at portraying the realities and harshness of nature, his theories and techniques forever changed the contemporary academic principles of art. Born in Ornans into a prosperous farming family, he went to Paris in 1839 and worked at the studio of Steuben and Hesse. He soon left, preferring to develop his own style by studying Spanish, Flemish and French painters and painting copies of their work. His first works were influenced by the writings of Victor Hugo and George Sand, but he soon abandoned literary influences for the study of real life. A trip to the Netherlands in 1847 strengthened Courbet's belief that painters should portray the life around them, following the ideals of Rembrandt, Hals, and the other Dutch masters.
The Salon of 1850 found him triumphant with Burial at Ornans, considered the first Realist masterpiece. Toward the end of the 1860s, Courbet painted a series of increasingly erotic works, culminating in The Origin of the World (1866), depicting female genitalia, and The Sleepers (1866), featuring two women in bed. While banned from public display, the works only served to increase his notoriety. In 1870, Courbet established the Federation of Artists for the free and uncensored expansion of art. The group's members included André Gill, Honoré Daumier, Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Eugène Pottier, Jules Dalou, and Édouard Manet.
His refusal of the cross of the Legion of Honour offered to him by Napoleon III made him immensely popular with those who opposed the current regime, and in 1871 under the revolutionary Paris Commune he was placed in charge of all the Paris art museums and saved them from looting mobs. For his allowance of the destruction of the Vendôme Column (which he saw as a symbol of tyranny), he was designated as responsible for the act and accordingly sentenced by a Versailles court martial to six months in prison and a fine of 500 francs. In 1873, the newly elected president Mac-Mahon wanted to resurrect the Column, and Courbet was singled out to pay the expenses. In 1877, Courbet was sentenced to pay the fine in yearly installments of 10,000 francs for the next 33 years, until his 91st birthday. Courbet died, age 58, in La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland, the day before the payment of the first installment was due.
Circa 1865
Canvas: 21 1/4" high x 25 1/2" wide
Frame: 33" high x 38" wide
This work has been authenticated by Jean-Jacques Fernier and Sarah Faunce, for inclusion in their forthcoming catalogue raisonné on Courbet.
Provenance:
Collection Mazarov, Drouot, Paris, 13 May 1890 (as Riviere en Foret);
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 3 April 1990, lot 257
Exhibited:
Milan, Compagnia del Disegno, Gustave Courbet, 1988
Turin, Molle Antone Lliana, Courbet e l'Informale, December 1988-February 1989
Artist's Exhibitions:
École des Beaux-Arts, 1882
Artist's Museums:
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Musée Courbet, Ormans, France
The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, Russia
National Gallery, London
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
