Théodore Rousseau, The Valley of Saint-Vincent

This early morning view leads down through a green valley to a distant chain of mountains. From the grassy outcrop on the left there is a vertiginous drop into the valley, which in its sweep towards the menacing line of mountains in the distance fades from green to blue. The valley is criss-crossed with dark green tree lines, the trees conjured up out of small swirls of the brush. The sky is painted in warm shades of pink, the clouds surrounding the central peak painted in blue.

The view is in the Cantal region of the Auvergne. In 1830 Rousseau spent several months in the area in the company of fellow artist Prosper Marilhat (1811–1847). An area of wild, unspoilt nature with significant geological features, the region was a popular subject for landscape painters – when Rousseau first exhibited at the Salon in 1831 he showed a view of the Auvergne. The valley depicted here, through which the river Mars runs, is home to a number of villages, including Saint-Vincent-de-Salers. The valley is one of those that radiate out from the foot of the Puy Mary, one of the principal summits of the Cantal region, and the highest peak visible here. To the left lies the small peak of the Puy de Peyre Ares, and the pointed peak to the right of the Puy Mary is the Col de Redondet. The rocks in the extreme left foreground are the Rochers d’Angouran.

Rousseau painted and drew a number of views of these valleys, including Valley in the Auvergne Mountains (Saint Louis Art Museum), which appears to show the Col de Redonet at the centre. In common with his other studies dating from this visit, our view was painted on paper in the open air. The foreground and middle ground are quite thinly worked, with the white of the ground showing through. The mountains and sky are fluidly painted with long flowing brushstrokes. Rousseau painted the mountain range on top of the sky, and added the clouds last, overlapping mountains and sky. The composition has been extended with a strip of paper along the top, easily visible due to the difference in colouration. This was added after Rousseau’s death. In 1867 he had sold a group of plein air studies, including this work, to the dealers Durand-Ruel and Brame, who exhibited them in a special exhibition in June that year. At this point the painting was smaller, without the added strip.