Sous-bois

This woodland study from 1842 at the House of George Sand shows Delacroix painting during visits to Sand's estate at Nohant. His friendship with the novelist and his recovery from illness there produced several intimate landscape studies. As the leading French Romantic painter, Delacroix brought passionate color and dynamic energy to all his subjects; his journal records his constant study of color relationships and his admiration for Rubens, Constable, and Veronese.

The forest scene is captured with fresh, spontaneous brushwork. Delacroix's sensitivity to green tones and dappled light creates an intimate natural scene.