The Fitzwilliam Museum - University of Cambridge

58 Constant Troyon
Major Acquisitions
(1810–1865)
Landscape
Oil on canvas
24.5 x 37.2 cm
Given by Julia Crookenden and
Michael Jaye in memory of
Major-General Crookenden and
Mrs Angela Crookenden, through
Cambridge in America.
PD.4-2006
Troyon was one of a generation of
painters in France who drew inspiration
from working in Barbizon to the south
of Paris. Largely self-trained, he began
life as a painter on porcelain, but in the
1830s was introduced through his
acquaintance Paul Huet (1803–1869)
to a form of naturalist landscape painting
practised by British painters, most
prominently through the exhibition of
John Constable’s Hay Wain (National
Gallery, London) at the Paris Salon of
1824. It is likely, too that his knowledge
of Constable’s work was derived from
his friendship with the painter, whom he
met in 1832, and who, with Théodore
Rousseau (1812–1867) and Narcisse Diaz
de la Peña (1808–1876), would become
major influences on his future
development. This powerfully evocative
small sketch with its bold use of impasto
touches and sureness of handling shows
how well Troyon was able to assimilate
the freshness of Constable’s palette,
and his ability to represent the freshlywashed
skies of Northern Europe.