A View Across the River
painter
Gustave Courbet
(Ornans, Franche-Comté, France, 1819 - 1877, La Tour-de-Peilz, Vaud, Switzerland)
Dateabout 1855
Place MadeFrance, Europe
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions46 x 56 cm (18 1/8 x 22 1/16 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberP3w16
eMuseum ID718542
EmbARK ObjectID10728
TMS Source ID5
Last Updated11/6/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryThis landscape painting by the 19th century French Realist artist Gustave Courbet is a view of the artist’s hometown of Ornans, a small commune along the Loue river in eastern France. Today it is known as the “Little Venice of Franche-Comte.” Painted from life in about 1855, Courbet championed the artistic style of Realism— painting what you saw in an attempt to accurately and realistically depict contemporary life. This painting shows two women side by side in the foreground standing among lush green foliage, admiring the view of the cliffs and the town across a chasm. Isabella likely purchased the painting in 1877, which makes it one of her earliest acquisitions. She displayed the painting in her Brookline home known as Green Hill until 1919. After she sold the property, she installed the landscape in the Museum’s Blue Room.
BibliographyNotesHotel Drouot, Catalogue d’une jolie collection de tableaux modernes (Paris, 22 February 1877), p. 6. (as Rochers)
"Contributions to the Loan Exhibition for the Year 1880." Museum of Fine Arts, Fifth Annual Report (Boston, 1881), p. 23.
Catalogue. Fenway Court. (Boston, 1903), p. 2.
Philip Hendy. Catalogue of Exhibited Paintings and Drawings (Boston, 1931), p. 106.
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 33.
Stuart Preston. "A View Across the River" in Alfred M. Frankfurter (ed.). The Gardner Collection (New York, 1946), p. 50, ill.
George L. Stout. Treasures from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1969), pp. 52-53, ill.
Philip Hendy. European and American Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1974), pp. 61-62, ill.
Robert Fernier. La Vie et l'oeuvre de Gustave Courbet: Catalogue Raisonné (Geneva, 1977-1978), p. 108, no. 178. (as 1855)
Deborah Gribbon. "Mrs. Gardner's Modern Art" in James Thomas Herbert Baily (ed.). The Connoisseur: An Illustrated Magazine for Collectors, "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum" (London, 1978), pp. 10, 12, fig. 1.
Pierre Courthion. Tout l'oeuvre peint de Courbet (Milan, 1985), p. 172, no. 171. (entitled "Le Chateau d'Ornans vu de la Roche-Dumont," as 1855)
Evan H. Turner in Alan Chong et al. (eds.) Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 2003), p. 189.
Jeffery Howe et al. (eds.). Courbet: Mapping Realism: Paintings from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium and American Collections. Exh. cat. (Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts: McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, 2013), pp. 13, 78, 119, pl. 34. (as about 1855)
Adrienne Chaparro, "Gustave Courbet's Landscape Cleaned Up," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 14 November 2023, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/gustave-courbets-landscape-cleaned
"Contributions to the Loan Exhibition for the Year 1880." Museum of Fine Arts, Fifth Annual Report (Boston, 1881), p. 23.
Catalogue. Fenway Court. (Boston, 1903), p. 2.
Philip Hendy. Catalogue of Exhibited Paintings and Drawings (Boston, 1931), p. 106.
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 33.
Stuart Preston. "A View Across the River" in Alfred M. Frankfurter (ed.). The Gardner Collection (New York, 1946), p. 50, ill.
George L. Stout. Treasures from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1969), pp. 52-53, ill.
Philip Hendy. European and American Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1974), pp. 61-62, ill.
Robert Fernier. La Vie et l'oeuvre de Gustave Courbet: Catalogue Raisonné (Geneva, 1977-1978), p. 108, no. 178. (as 1855)
Deborah Gribbon. "Mrs. Gardner's Modern Art" in James Thomas Herbert Baily (ed.). The Connoisseur: An Illustrated Magazine for Collectors, "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum" (London, 1978), pp. 10, 12, fig. 1.
Pierre Courthion. Tout l'oeuvre peint de Courbet (Milan, 1985), p. 172, no. 171. (entitled "Le Chateau d'Ornans vu de la Roche-Dumont," as 1855)
Evan H. Turner in Alan Chong et al. (eds.) Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 2003), p. 189.
Jeffery Howe et al. (eds.). Courbet: Mapping Realism: Paintings from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium and American Collections. Exh. cat. (Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts: McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, 2013), pp. 13, 78, 119, pl. 34. (as about 1855)
Adrienne Chaparro, "Gustave Courbet's Landscape Cleaned Up," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 14 November 2023, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/gustave-courbets-landscape-cleaned
MarksNotesInscribed (lower left, in red): G. Courbet
Inscribed (on a paper label affixed to the back of the frame, upper left): Courbet / Mrs. John L. Gardner... / 152 Beacon Street
Inscribed in ink (on label affixed to the stretcher): Gardner Museum / Fenway frame / [and in pencil] make stretcher larger
Inscribed (on a paper label affixed to the back of the frame, upper left): Courbet / Mrs. John L. Gardner... / 152 Beacon Street
Inscribed in ink (on label affixed to the stretcher): Gardner Museum / Fenway frame / [and in pencil] make stretcher larger
ProvenanceNotesProbably purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from an auction at Hotel Drouot, Paris for 525 francs on 22 February 1877, lot 16, through a proxy. (titled Rochers)
