Étienne Pierre Théodore Rousseau (; 15 April 181222 December 1867) was a French painter of the
Barbizon school.
Life
Youth
He was born in Paris, France in a
bourgeois
The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...
family.
At first he received a basic level of training, but soon displayed aptitude for painting.
Although his father regretted the decision at first, he became reconciled to his son forsaking business, and throughout the artist's career (for he survived his son) was a sympathizer with him in all his conflicts with the
Paris Salon authorities.
Théodore Rousseau shared the difficulties of the romantic painters of 1830, in securing for their pictures a place in the annual Paris exhibition.
The influence of classically trained artists was against them, and not until 1848 was Rousseau presented adequately to the public.

He had exhibited six works in the Salons of 1831, 1833, 1834 and 1835, but in 1836 his great work ''Paysage du Jura''
'La descente des vaches''was rejected by the Salon jury. He sent a total of eight further works to the Salon between 1836 and 1841; and yet none of them were accepted. Thereafter, he ceased sending work to the Salon until 1849, when all three of his submissions were accepted.
He was not without champions in the press, and with the title of "''le grand refusé''" he became known through the writings of his friend Théophile Thoré, the critic who afterwards resided in England and wrote using the name Burger.
During these years of artistic exile Rousseau produced some of his best pictures: ''The Chestnut Avenue'', ''The Marsh in the Landes'' (now in the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
), ''Hoar-Frost'' (now in America); and in 1851, after the reorganization of the Salon in 1848, he exhibited his masterpiece, ''The Edge of the Forest'' (also in the Louvre), a picture similar in treatment to, but slightly varied in subject from, the composition called ''A Glade in the Forest of Fontainebleau'', in the
Wallace Collection at
Hertford House, London.
Barbizon and maturity
Until this period Rousseau had lived only occasionally at
Barbizon, but in 1848 he took up his residence in the forest village, and spent most of his remaining days in the vicinity. He was now able to obtain fair sums for his pictures (but only about one-tenth of their value thirty years after his death), and the number of his admirers increased. He was still ignored by the authorities, even while his mentee
Narcisse Virgilio Diaz was made Chevalier of the
Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...
in 1851.
Rousseau was left undecorated, but was nominated and awarded the Cross soon afterwards. He would eventually become an Officer of the Legion of Honor.
At the Exposition Universelle of 1855, where all Rousseau's rejected pictures of the previous twenty years were gathered together, his works were acknowledged to form one of the best of the many splendid groups there exhibited. But, after an unsuccessful sale of his works by auction in 1861, he contemplated leaving Paris for
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
or London, or even New York.
Later years
Rousseau then suffered a series of misfortunes. His wife's mental health had worsened; his aged father became dependent on him for pecuniary assistance; his patrons were few. Moreover, while he was temporarily absent with his ill wife, a youth living in his home (a friend of his family) committed suicide in his Barbizon cottage. When he visited the Alps in 1863, making sketches of
Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc (, ) is a mountain in the Alps, rising above sea level, located right at the Franco-Italian border. It is the highest mountain in Europe outside the Caucasus Mountains, the second-most prominent mountain in Europe (after Mount E ...
, he became dangerously ill with inflammation of the lungs; and when he returned to Barbizon he suffered from
insomnia
Insomnia, also known as sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder where people have difficulty sleeping. They may have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep for as long as desired. Insomnia is typically followed by daytime sleepiness, low ene ...
and became gradually weakened.
He was elected president of the fine-art jury for the 1867 Exposition; however, his disappointment at being denied the better awards may have affected his health, for in August he became paralyzed. He recovered slightly, but was again attacked several times during the autumn. In November his condition worsened, and he died in the presence of his lifelong friend,
Jean-François Millet, on 22 December 1867. Millet, the peasant painter, for whom Rousseau had the greatest regard, had been much with him during the last years of his life, and at his death Millet assumed charge of Rousseau's ill wife.
Rousseau's other friend and neighbor,
Jules Dupré, himself an eminent landscape painter of Barbizon, relates the difficulty Rousseau experienced in knowing when his picture was finished, and how he, Dupré, would sometimes take away from the studio some canvas on which Rousseau was laboring too long. Rousseau was a good friend to Diaz, teaching him how to paint trees, for until a certain point in his career Diaz considered he could only paint figures.
Work
Rousseau's pictures are always grave in character, with an air of exquisite melancholy. They are well finished when they profess to be completed pictures, but Rousseau spent so much time developing his subjects that his absolutely completed works are comparatively few. He left many canvases with parts of the picture realized in detail and with the remainder somewhat vague; and also a good number of sketches and water-color drawings. His pen work in monochrome on paper is rare. There are a number of good pictures by him in the Louvre, and the Wallace collection contains one of his most important Barbizon pictures. There is also an example in the Ionides collection at the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
in London.
Paintings
File:Théodore Rousseau - Fishing Village.jpg, ''Fishing Village'', 1831, oil on canvas
File:Théodore Rousseau-Etude de troncs d'arbres.jpg, ''Study of tree-trunks'', 1833; oil on canvas, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg
File:'Thunderstorm over Mont Blanc' by Théodore Rousseau, 1834.jpg, ''Thunderstorm over Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc (, ) is a mountain in the Alps, rising above sea level, located right at the Franco-Italian border. It is the highest mountain in Europe outside the Caucasus Mountains, the second-most prominent mountain in Europe (after Mount E ...
'', 1834; oil-painting
File:Théodore Rousseau - A Swamp in the Landes - Walters 37991.jpg, ''A Swamp in Les Landes, 1844, oil on panel, Walters Art Museum
The Walters Art Museum is a public art museum located in the Mount Vernon, Baltimore, Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. Founded and opened in 1934, it holds collections from the mid-19th century that were amassed substantially ...
File:A Meadow Bordered by Trees MET ep11.45.5.R.jpg, ''A Meadow Bordered by Trees'', c. 1845; oil on panel, Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
File:Théodore Rousseau 004.jpg, ''Thunderstorms mood in the level of Montmartre'', 1845-1848, color on panel, Musée d'Orsay
The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...
File:Théodore Rousseau - Vue de la plaine de Montmartre.jpg, ''View of the Plain of Montmartre'', c. 1848, oil on panel, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
File:Théodore Rousseau (1812-1867) - The Forest of Fontainebleau, Morning - P283 - The Wallace Collection.jpg, '' The Forest of Fontainebleau: Morning'', c 1850, oil on canvas, Wallace Collection, London
File:Théodore Rousseau - La cabane du charbon de bois dans la forêt de Fontainebleau.jpg, ''Charcoal hut in the forest of Fontainebleau'', c. 1855, oil on canvas, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
File:Théodore Rousseau - Study of an Oak Tree - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Study of an Oak Tree'', c. 1857-1867, drawing in black and white chalk on paper, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
File:Théodore Rousseau - The Great Oaks of Old Bas-Bréau - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Great Oaks of Old Bas- Bréau'', 1864, oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
References
Attribution:
* Endnotes:
* Alfred Sensier, ''Souvenirs sur Th. Rousseau'' (Paris, 1872).
* E. Michel, ''Les Artistes célébres: Th. Rousseau'' (Paris, 1891).
* J. W. Mollett, ''Rousseau and Diaz'' (London, 1890).
* David Croal Thomson, ''The Barbizon School of Painters: Th. Rousseau'' (London, 1892).
*
Albert Wolff, ''La Capitale de l'art: Th. Rousseau'' (Paris, 1886).
* E. Chesneau, ''Peintres romantiques: Th. Rousseau'' (Paris, 1880).
* P Burty, ''Maîtres et petit-maîtres: Th. Rousseau'' (Paris, 1877).
Further reading
* (see index)
External links
Théodore Rousseau- Rehs Galleries' biography on the artist.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rousseau, Theodore
1812 births
1867 deaths
19th-century French painters
Painters from Paris
French male painters
French Realist painters
French landscape artists
Officers of the Legion of Honour
19th-century French male artists