ROUSSEAU, Théodore
(b. 1812, Paris, d. 1867, Barbizon)

Market-Place in Normandy

1830s
Oil on panel, 30 x 38 cm
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

The small format, wooden support, and abundance of narrative detail link this painting to the Dutch tradition, wheereas the dense mass of paint and free brushwork connect it to the art of English painter John Constable. These two sources in many ways determined French landscape painting's turn toward realism, as seen in the output of the Barbizon school.