The Hammock

Courbet's The Hammock of 1844 depicts a young woman reclining in a hammock in a garden setting, a subject of domestic leisure treated with the outdoor observation and warm coloring that characterizes his early work before the gray-toned realism of his mature Ornans paintings. The painting shows Courbet developing the integration of figure and landscape that would define his later hunting and forest subjects, the woman's relaxed pose and the dappled light creating a study in summer sensory experience. The painting's warmth reflects his engagement with Venetian and Flemish colorist tradition.

Courbet renders the dappled forest light with a rich palette of greens and warm flesh tones, using thick impasto to create tactile textures. The intimate scale and natural setting anticipate the plein-air painting of the next generation.