Highlights from the Collection

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Wisconsin. Milwaukee Art Museum. 1888: Frederick Layton and His World, April 7–August 28, 1988.
Manchester, New Hampshire. The Currier Gallery of Art. Corot to Monet: The Rise of Landscape Painting in France, January 29–April 28, 1991, no. 106.
New York. IBM Gallery of Science and Art. Corot to Monet: The Rise of Landscape Painting in France, July 30–September 28, 1991, no. 106.
Texas. Dallas Museum of Art. Corot to Monet: The Rise of Landscape Painting in France, November 10, 1991–January 5, 1992, no. 106.
Atlanta, Georgia. High Museum of Art. Corot to Monet: The Rise of Landscape Painting in France, January 28–March 29, 1992, no. 106.
Ohio. Cincinnati Art Museum. Museum within a Museum: Treasures from the Taft at the Cincinnati Art Museum, January 12, 2002–February 2003 (during TMA renovation).
Cincinnati, Ohio. Taft Museum of Art. In a New Light: Treasures from the Taft, July 3, 2021–May 1, 2022.

In this early autumn view of a plain in the Fontainebleau Forest, southeast of Paris, Théodore Rousseau included white-trunked birches and two oaks—the national tree of France. Rousseau lived in a village near the forest, often sketching outside, from 1847 until his death. His energetic brushwork created vibrant, overlapping textural layers, forming dense surfaces. So prolonged was his artistic process that some patrons waited for years to obtain their pictures.

More to the Story
Living on the edge of the Fontainebleau Forest, Théodore Rousseau became devoted to its ancient trees. He once explained, “The surprises of [the trees’] movements, variety of forms, and singular attraction toward the light suddenly revealed to me the language of the forest . . . whose signs I divined and whose passions I discovered.” For Rousseau, trees were living beings with souls, as well as symbols of life’s continuity. In 1852, he successfully petitioned Emperor Napoleon III to protect key areas of historic old-growth trees from commercial lumbering.

Created by the artist; transferred to the artist’s estate; (consigned to Hôtel Drouot, Paris); sold April 27, 1868 (no. 37). Acquired by Camondo; (consigned to Galerie Georges Petit); sold February 1, 1893 (no. 81). (Acquired by Scott and Fowles, New York, NY); purchased by Charles Phelps Taft [1843-1929] and Anna Sinton Taft [1850-1931], Cincinnati, OH, October 28, 1909; donated to the Cincinnati Institute of Fine Arts, Cincinnati, OH, May 21, 1927 [1]; transferred to the Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, OH, September 1, 2006 [2].

Notes:

[1]. The Cincinnati Institute of Fine Arts (CIFA) was formed by Charles Phelps and Anna Sinton Taft on March 22, 1927 as a non-profit corporation to stimulate the development of art and music in the City of Cincinnati and run the Taft Museum of Art, which opened in 1932. The Tafts offered $1 million for a permanent endowment fund, on the condition that the community raise $2.5 million in matching funds, which was achieved by December 3, 1928. [2]. Until August 31, 2006, the Museum was owned by CIFA, administered by CIFA’s Board of Trustees, and governed by the Taft Museum Board of Overseers. On September 1, 2006, the Museum legally separated from CIFA and began operations as its own incorporated 501(c)(3) entity. This separate incorporation led to the transfer to the separate entity after August 31, 2006 of all tangible assets comprising the Taft collection.

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