Landscape with Sheep

Charles-Émile Jacque was known for his skill at depicting rustic scenery and for his affiliation with the Barbizon School. This painting, reflecting the aesthetic of the Barbizon landscapists at its purest, provides a fine example of how Jacque’s landscapes offered fresh and dispassionate accounts of the French countryside. Undated, like most of Jacque’s canvases, Landscape with Sheep features a typical composition: a glade opens up in the foreground from a thick stand of oaks descending from left to right. The overall dark tones, dominated by browns, are offset by a vigorously painted sky of white and grey clouds. Flecks of white denote the play of light on the tree trunks, and pure black lines reinforce the outlines of prominent branches.