This lovely painting by Narcisse Virgile Diaz De La Pena is a feast for the eyes.
The painting is rich in detail and executed masterfully.
The painting is exceptionally well detailed to the point that one could almost pick a leaf off one of the trees.
The painting has stronger ties to the Romantic Movement then it does to the Barbizon School, the reason for this is the strong attention to detail.
When you look at most Barbizon painters you see immediately that the detail its much more impressionistic.
In fact the Barbizon School is the mother of Impressionism which followed right after it.
The greatest difference between Barbizon Paintings and Impressionist is the use of color, there is not the large range of tone and color used by the Barbizon painters as by the Impressionist.
This painting's focus is on the pond and the peasant in the center of the painting.
If you look closely you will see that the scarf of the woman can be seen in the pond as a reflection, the water must be very still to show is clearly.
The three trees in the center (one is to the left of the peasant the other two are to her right) anchor the viewer to the center stage of the scene.
The opening to the field in the back is a ploy used by the artist to keep you coming back to the middle where the focus of the scene is at.
The clue to this is that there is no subject whatsoever in the clearing behind the trees, all eyes are to be focused on the woman.
There is no other life in the painting aside from the woman making the scene all the more quite.
There is little play with lighting in the painting, for the artist wants you to stop and reflect on the natural beauty of the woods and the peasant is the vehicle to take you there.
There is outstanding use of shade and shadow in this work, if you look in the trees you can see that there are pockets of lighter and darker green to show the shading between the branches.
The branches of the trees are exceptionally well rendered almost the point of a photograph.
You can see the bark peeling off the tree to the right of the woman.
The best use of lighting in this painting is displayed on the tree trunks which are the brightest objects in the work of art.
Stephen F.
Condren - Artist