Paysage (en Auvergne?)

Paysage en Auvergne from 1830 by Theodore Rousseau records the dramatic volcanic landscape of central France. Rousseau's early travels beyond the Ile-de-France exposed him to varied terrain that broadened his landscape vocabulary beyond the forest subjects with which he is most associated. Rousseau's approach to landscape combined meticulous observation of specific trees, light conditions, and atmospheric effects with a deep reverence for the natural world that gave his paintings a pantheistic s

The Auvergne landscape provides more dramatic terrain than Rousseau's typical forest scenes, rendered with his characteristically direct observation of natural forms.