Road in the Woods

mid-1840s
Not on view

In this animated scene of a simple dirt track, the eye is led simultaneously upward to the left and downward to the right. Troyon adopted this dual perspective from seventeenth-century Dutch landscape painting, which vanguard French artists of his generation studied for naturalistic alternatives to more formal, Italianate models favored by the state-sponsored Académie des Beaux-Arts. Troyon depicted the penetration of brilliant sunlight through the tree canopy with palpitating brushwork that was rarely equaled in the mid-1840s, when this work was probably painted.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Road in the Woods
  • Artist: Constant Troyon (French, Sèvres 1810–1865 Paris)
  • Date: mid-1840s
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 22 7/8 x 19 in. (58.1 x 48.3 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Collis P. Huntington, 1900
  • Object Number: 25.110.19
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

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