Artwork
La Pauvresse de village
La Pauvresse de village is an oil painting by the Realist artist Gustave Courbet. It dates from 1866 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Technique & Style
The painting is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.
La Pauvresse de village is an oil painting on canvas by Gustave Courbet, dated 1866. The work measures 86.2 cm in height and 127.1 cm in width. As an oil-on-canvas piece, it reflects the material standards of Courbet's mature realist practice, using the medium to render the figure and setting with the textured surface qualities typical of the artist's handling. The painting is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
History & Provenance
Gustave Courbet's La Pauvresse de village (1866) is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The painting, executed in oil on canvas, measures 86.2 cm in height and 127.1 cm in width. Prior to its current location, the work was owned by Hugo Nathan and Martha Nathan, and passed through the Galerie Schmit and Robert Schmit. The available sources do not list a specific accession number or exhibition history for the work.
Overview
Gustave Courbet created the oil painting La Pauvresse de village in 1866. The work belongs to the French Realist movement, which sought to portray ordinary people and everyday situations without romantic embellishment. It is part of the National Gallery of Art’s collection in Washington, D.C.
Subject & Meaning
The canvas depicts a wintry village landscape populated by a laboring woman, a child, and a goat. The woman bears a heavy bundle of sticks on her back, her posture bent under the load, while the child walks bundled against the cold. The scene conveys the hardships of rural life, emphasizing the physical strain of poverty.
Context
By the mid‑1860s Courbet had turned away from Romantic idealization and the academic hierarchy of subjects, choosing instead to document the observable world. La Pauvresse de village exemplifies this shift, focusing on a humble, unnamed peasant woman rather than mythological or historical figures.
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Artist
Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet (UK: KOOR-bay; US: koor-BAY; French:; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting.
