“Market in Normandy” is a painting by the French artist Theodore Russo from the collection of the State Hermitage Museum .
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| Theodore Russo | ||
| "Market in Normandy . " 1830s | ||
| fr. Marché en Normandie | ||
| Wood, oil. 29.5 × 38 cm | ||
| State Hermitage Museum , St. Petersburg | ||
| ( inv. GE-3950 ) | ||
The picture shows several houses in a small Norman town and counters with canopies near them. Several figures of sellers and buyers are visible. Signed lower right: T. Rousseau .
The painting was painted in the 1830s, at a time when Rousseau met John Constable and was greatly impressed by his work. The compiler of the scientific catalog of the collection of French painting in the Hermitage V.N. Berezina believes that it is in this picture that Constable’s influence on Rousseau is most noticeable: the nature of the strokes, the interpretation of the figures and the general color of the painting clearly resemble the work of an English artist.
Around 1856, the painting was bought by Count N. A. Kushelev-Bezborodko . After the owner’s death, the painting, like all works from the Kushelev-Bezborodko collection, was transferred to the Museum of the Academy of Arts by will and became part of the special Kushelev gallery, in the gallery catalog of 1868 was listed under the title “Study from Nature” and dated 1855. This dating seems incorrect, since in the 1850s the artist, with the exception of brief trips to Paris , was almost always in Barbizon , but just in the 1830s he went to Normandy several times, where in 1832 he met Constable [1] ; in 1922 it was transferred to the State Hermitage Museum [2] . It is exhibited in the General Staff building, in the hall of the Barbizon School.
The main researcher of the Department of Western European Fine Art of the State Hermitage, Doctor of Art History A. G. Kostenevich, in his essay on French art of the 19th and early 20th centuries, highly appreciated the picture:
In essence, this is a study, but it is distinguished by the ability to get used to the atmosphere of a place that is outwardly unremarkable. Any of the details carries the feeling of how leisurely, according to the centuries-old way of life, life flows in such a town. ... Highlighting the middle plan - a technique that will be spread among the Barbizonians - allows the viewer to mentally enter the landscape after an artist who does not think to look down on this quiet provincial life. The confidential thoroughness of the narrative and the reliability of each detail in Rousseau resemble Balzac 's best landscape pages [3] .
Notes
- ↑ Berezina V. French painting of the first half and middle of the XIX century in the Hermitage. Scientific catalog. - L .: Art, 1983. - S. 207-208.
- ↑ State Hermitage Museum. - Russo, Theodore. "Market in Normandy."
- ↑ Kostenevich A.G. French art of the 19th - early 20th centuries in the Hermitage. Essay guide. L .: Art, 1984. - S. 53.