Theodore Richard (1782-1859) - Chopping Wood In The Countryside Oil On Canvas Circa 1833

Theodore Richard (1782-1859) - Chopping wood in the countryside oil on canvas circa 1833

Theodore Richard was a well-known painter, considered one of the precursors of the Barbizon School.

Theodore Richard had just moved to Toulouse in 1833. We must therefore consider this beautiful painting as one of the very first he painted in the Toulouse countryside.
The painting is a masterly use of light and depth.

A melancholy landscape of the Toulousian countryside in early autumn, a season so difficult to transcribe in paint, as it offers such a distinctive palette of colors.
Theodore Richard paints a hilly landscape where nature is adorned in ochre hues, the sky is beginning to darken and it's high time to bring in the wood for the coming winter.

Beautiful painting signed (monogram) by Theodore Richard and dated 1833 lower left.

Sizes unframed:   H 17.51 Inches. - W 20.47 Inches.
Sizes with frame:  H 21.45 Inches. - W 24.40 Inches.
 
In great condition, surrounded by a beautiful carved and gilded wooden frame.
 
Biography:
 
Alexandre Louis Marie Théodore Richard, a French painter, was born in Millau on November 24, 1782, he died in Toulouse on November 18, 1859.
 
Théodore Richard was born into a wealthy bourgeois family in Millau, the son of Pierre-Jacques Richard, a magistrate of the town, and his wife, née Marie-Rose de Lavit.

He was a chief land surveyor in the Cantal, Corrèze, Jura, and Gironde regions. In his spare time, he devoted himself to drawing and painting.

In 1823, he left the administration to devote himself entirely to landscape painting, and in 1833 he moved to Toulouse where he opened his studio at 4, rue de la Madeleine and then 11 bis, rue Boulbonne.
He was a student of Jean-Marie Joseph Ingres and Jean-Victor Bertin. He exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français from 1827 to 1859.
 
He produced more than 350 paintings: historical or pastoral scenes and landscapes, notably in the Pyrenees, a place prized by a bourgeois clientele adept at spa treatments and fond of picturesque and sublime landscape paintings.
 
From 1830 to 1854, he lived at the peak of his career; he was then considered by his peers a talented painter.

He was the adoptive father of the painter Jacques Raymond Brascassat.

He built the castle and the domain of Roquebelle in the commune of Creissels.
 
Works in public collections:
 
Aurillac, Museum of Art and Archaeology: Entrance to a forest in the Cantal.
 
Bordeaux, Museum of Fine Arts: Herd on the march.
 
Millau, museum of Millau and Grands Causses:
View of Roquebelle;
Creek of Rougeole ;
Landscape of undergrowth;
Landscape with a shepherd and his flock.
 
Montpellier, Fabre Museum:
Landscape;
Landscape: rocks and river - view of the surroundings of Millau;
A farm near Pau;
View of the city and the castle of Pau.
 
Rochefort, Saint-Clement Hebrew Museum: View of the old naval shipyards in Rochefort.
 
Rodez: museum of the fine arts Denys-Puech:
Landscape;
Entrance to a park;
Seated woman,
Wolf devouring a sheep ;
Landscape of the Pyrenees ;
The Procession of Rogations (The blessing of the flocks).
 
Rodez : Fenaille museum : Self-portrait.
 
Toulouse : musée des Augustins :
The Woodcutters;
Interior of a forest;
View of the Pic du Midi de Pau and the forest of Gabas;
The Forest of Rotherwood. The episode of Ivanhoe.
 
Toulouse: museum of the Old Toulouse: Surroundings of Millau.
 
Exhibitions:
 
Millau, Musée de Millau et des Grands Causses, exhibition Théodore Richard et le paysage, from July 5 to October 31, 2008.
Ridez, Denys Puech museum, exhibition Théodore Richard, portraits and landscapes, from February 9, 2012, to June 3, 2012.