Page 20 - Theodore Rousseau: A Magnificent Obsession

Fig. 6 - Le Marais dans les Landes, Louvre, Paris

Hartmann first saw La Ferme on a visit to Rousseau’s studio in February 1852 and
immediately offered to buy it for FF 3,000, together with another painting for an equal
amount, Le Marais dans les Landes (now Paris, Louvre - Fig. 6). Both paintings were apparently not
entirely finished, at least in the eyes of the buyer who specifically requested that the artist finish
all the details to a degree that left nothing to be desired. According to Hartmann it was that
final touch, that ‘cisélure dernière’ that gave Rousseau’s pictures ‘un precieux et un fini’ that
distinguished them from those of his contemporaries. In contrast to La Ferme,the Louvre picture
shows a scene probably set a little to the north west of Tartas in the Grande Lande where the
ground is flat and marshy. Rousseau painted another view of the Grande Lande which bears
some relation to the Louvre picture and which must be very close in date.This is a small painting

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