A Vista through Trees: Fontainebleau
A view between huge oaks to open fields beyond in the Forest of Fontainebleau: a small panel Diaz painted late in his life. Full commentary ↓
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A Vista through Trees: Fontainebleau is an oil painting by Narcisse-Virgile Diaz de la Peña (1873) in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It measures 32.4 × 43.8 cm.
In the pictureA thick oak stands on the left, its branches covering the top of the picture. Between the trees a bright field and sky appear in the distance, and below is the forest floor with dry grass, a pool and rocks. Everything is steeped in browns and golds, and the sky looks like a small hole punched through.
BackgroundThe old oaks of the Forest of Fontainebleau were a subject the Barbizon painters returned to again and again, as if painting portraits. Diaz did not leave the forest even in the 1870s, and he favored compositions like this one, with a view into the distance between trees. Because it is a small wooden panel, it may have been painted outdoors on the spot or as a study for a larger picture.
Puzzle tipSince it is mostly brown, it is on the hard side. Assembling the bright field and sky pieces in the center first opens up the hole in the picture, and the thick trunk pieces of the oak on the left are the next clue. Sort the remaining brown pieces by brushstroke direction, which differs between the leaves (top) and the grass (bottom).
- Artist
- French, Bordeaux 1808–1876 Menton
- Classification
- Paintings
- Medium
- Oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 32.4 x 43.8 cm
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. Isaac D. Fletcher Collection, Bequest of Isaac D. Fletcher, 1917
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art ↗
Stories about this work
- Into the Forest Through Three Fontainebleau Paintings by Diaz
Three paintings of the Fontainebleau forest by the French Barbizon painter Diaz. Tips for solving these brown-and-green forest scenes as puzzles, and how the three differ.
- Two Paintings Where Diaz, Painter of the Fontainebleau Forest, Left the Woods
Even a painter who spent his life painting the Fontainebleau forest on one leg had his exceptions. Diaz seen through a myth outside the forest and a close-up of a single tree.
- Why Forest Puzzles Are So Hard, and How to Choose a Landscape Painting
Landscapes with a wide sky and landscapes packed with forest are hard for different reasons. How to find reference points for each type, and how to pick a good first landscape.
