Riverside Path

Constant Troyon began his career as a porcelain painter at Sèvres and, in the 1830s, began associating and working with Barbizon school painters such as Díaz and Rousseau. While staying in the Netherlands in 1847, he studied depictions of animals by such artists as Paulus Potter and Aelbert Cuyp, which led him to focus on portrayals of animals including cows, horses, and sheep. In this work Troyon masterfully employs backlighting, a technique at which he excelled, to introduce soft light emerging from the depths of the scene. All of the people’s faces are in shadow, making it clear that the animals are central to the composition. Light strikes the backs of the sheep, brilliantly illuminating their white fleece and accentuating their presence. Shadows stretching towards the foreground create a dramatic effect, enhancing the creatures’ enigmatic beauty. (F.R.)