In the Forest

Artist Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet (1819 - 1877)

Date1859

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions80 × 99.1 cm

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineSir Hugh Lane Bequest, 1917, The National Gallery, London. In partnership with Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin.

Object number3241

DescriptionThe son of a wealthy farmer, Courbet was a committed Republican and had a deep sympathy for the working classes. While he favoured realist subject matter in preference to subjects derived from poetry and literature this painting reveals the artist’s skill in evoking nature’s potential for poetic and artistic inspiration. Amid the cool dark trees of this painting, a deer drinks from a pool in a tranquil clearing while a stag is in the foreground. This work was exhibited in 1863 under the title Amours de Cerfs. (JO'D)

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