The Pool (Memory of the Forest of Chambord)

• Théodore Rousseau (1812–1867)
• 1839
• Oil on wood
• Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
• (1975.1.204)

In 1867, a French critic praised Théodore Rousseau as “Europe’s leading landscapist,” crediting him with elevating landscape painting to the same rank as history painting. In the 1830s, Rousseau worked near Barbizon but also painted in the gardens of the Château de Chambord, the largest castle in the Loire Valley, built in the sixteenth century for King François I. In this work, cows drink from a pond, their reflections mingling with those of the trees and sky on the water’s surface. The quiet, static composition of this humble landscape conveys a contemplative atmosphere.