Landscape at Melleray, Mayenne

Painted in 1876 and held at the Landesmuseum Hannover, this canvas shows the landscape around Melleray in Mayenne — a region of western France that Pissarro visited during his periodic stays with Piette. Melleray offered a different rural character from his usual Seine valley and Normandy subjects: more inland, more bocage landscape with hedgerows and fields. These visits away from his Pontoise base exposed him to different landscape types, enriching his visual vocabulary. The year 1876 fell in the middle of his most productive Pontoise decade, and works like this Mayenne landscape show him constantly refreshing his observation by seeking new terrain.

The Mayenne landscape is painted with the fully developed Impressionist touch of Pissarro's mid-1870s maturity — short, varied strokes that respond to each motif's specific texture. The bocage character is suggested through hedge lines and field patterns. Warm and cool tones are balanced, with sky providing the dominant light source.