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Landscape with Cottage
(18th and 19th Centuries )
"Landscape with Cottage" represents a peasant's thatched cottage on a rise. To the left, we see the tip of a steeple and to the right a figure in blue on a white horse, perhaps returning to his cottage as lowering clouds threaten the onset of a storm. Rousseau often chose to represent rustic cottages, informed both by sites he had seen on his travels and his familiarity with the 17th-century Dutch tradition. The location of the site depicted here is uncertain. It is possible that it could be a rocky plain in the forest of Fontainebleau some two miles south-west of Barbizon, which Rousseau represented frequently, particularly in his later years. However, it is also quite possible that Rousseau did not intend here to represent a specific location but rather a more generalized and imaginative interpretation of nature.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
Antoine-François Marmontel (1816-1898), Paris; Sale Antoine Marmontel, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, January 25-26, 1883, lot 255; purchased by William T. Walters (through George A. Lucas as agent), Baltimore, January 26, 1883 [1]; inherited by Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.
[1] The Diary of George A. Lucas, p. 557.
Exhibitions
| 2024-2025 | Reinstallation 2024: Art and Process. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. |
| 2016-2017 | Unruly Nature: The Landscapes of Theodore Rousseau . J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; NY Carlsberg Glyptotek, Kobenhavn. |
| 2005-2006 | The Essence of Line: French Drawings from Ingres to Degas. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham; Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma. |
| 1998-1999 | Botanical Delights: Floral Motifs in 19th-Century Art. Government House, Annapolis; Strathmore Hall Art Center, North Bethesda; Academy Art Museum, Easton. |
| 1998-1999 | A Discerning Eye: Nineteenth-century Drawings and Watercolors. Academy Art Museum, Easton. |
| 1997-1998 | French Master Drawings. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
| 1992 | French Masterworks on Paper. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
| 1990 | Illuminations: Images of Landscape in France, 1855-1885. The Heckscher Museum, Huntington; The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore; The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis. |
| 1985 | Millet and His Barbizon Contemporaries. Keio Department Store, Tokyo. |
| 1983 | A Connoisseur's Portfolio: Nineteenth-century Drawings and Watercolors in the Walters Art Gallery. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| 2/18/1983 | Examination | examined for exhibition |
| 1/1/2002 | Treatment | examined for exhibition; mounted |
Geographies
France (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H: 12 1/2 x W: 14 13/16 in. (31.8 x 37.7 cm); Framed H: 23 11/16 × W: 24 7/8 × D: 2 3/8 in. (60.2 × 63.2 × 6 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by William T. Walters, 1883
Location in Museum
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
37.966