Paintings I love
Forest Scene
Narcisse-Virgile Diaz de la Peña (French, 1807-1876)
Oil on cradled panel
1844-1860
(44.9 x 54.9 cm)
Brooklyn Museum
For Diaz, like so many of the Barbizon painters, the Fontainebleau Forest outside of Paris proved a constant source of inspiration. In these two paintings, the painter adopts a similar compositional strategy, using large trees to frame a body of water or a clearing at the center of his scene. Diaz plays with the patterns of light and shadow created by sunlight filtering through the leaves onto the forest floor. He uses thick, black strokes to define the contours of the trees, as is particularly evident in the upper left corner of Forest Scene. In his autumnal pond scene, Diaz adds a touch of incident with the presence of a wood gatherer and her canine companion.
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