Hoarfrost

In the year this work was painted, the French critic, Charles Baudelaire, hailed Rousseau as a leader of the French school of landscape painting. In 1845 Rousseau was still an artistic outsider, trying unsuccessfully to have his works accepted for display at official juried exhibitions (known as the salon). Hoarfrost is unusual as it was reportedly painted entirely out of doors and is of a much larger size than oil sketches that artists typically made on the spot. Because of this it is seen as anticipating the work of the Impressionists, who had their first group exhibition three decades later in 1874. One of the reasons that Rousseau’s work was not acceptable to the salon jury was that it did not include narrative elements, such as figures taken from mythology or the bible, that were seen as elevating landscape painting’s status. Not only this, Rousseau shows a desolate scene, shrouded in almost complete darkness, rather than a picturesque or conventionally pretty view. In retrospect, however, this painting has become prized for the new direction it anticipates.

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.

Paul Casimir-Périer, Paris, by purchase (from the artist); Durand-Ruel (date and mode of acquisition unknown); Troyon (date and mode of acquisition unknown); Troyon Sale, Paris, 1866, no. 568; Collection Bocquet, Lille (date and mode of acquisition unknown); Laurent-Richard Sale, Paris, 1873, no. 44; Durand-Ruel, 1873, by purchase; Collection Febore (date and mode of acquisition unknown); Beurnonville Sale, Paris, 1880, no. 45; Goupil (date and mode of acquisition unknown); Purchased by William T. Walters (through George A. Lucas as agent), Baltimore, December 26, 1882 [1]; inherited by Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.

[1] The Diary of George A. Lucas, p. 555.