An Alleyway between Houses

Théodore Rousseau

1858 · Pen and ink over graphite, squared in graphite · Drawings and Prints

This work is highly unusual in the landscape painter’s graphic oeuvre; there is only one other known drawing by the artist squared for transfer. Rousseau made drawings to record the topography of sites he visited, but they rarely correspond directly with finished paintings. The inscription "Bourron" likely refers to Bourron-Marlotte, a village south of the Fontainebleau forest, a site popular with other early Barbizon painters including Camille Corot (1796–1875) and Caruelle d’Aligny (1798–1871). The sparse linearity with which Rousseau describes the stone surfaces of this cobbled alleyway represents a graphic approach favored by the artist in the later decades of his career.

Artist

Théodore Rousseau

Date

1858

Medium

Pen and ink over graphite, squared in graphite

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Jill Newhouse, 2004