Early 19th-century French School (bruandet?) : “the Struck-by-lightning Oak”

Early 19th-centuryFrench School (Bruandet ?) : “The Struck-Down Oak,” oil on canvas, 27x 21.5 cm, mounted in a modern gilded frame, 32 x 27 cm.
Canvas is slightly slack but has been cleaned and varnished; minor restorations on thetop edge; a label on the back of the stretcher frame attributes it to “Bruandel,”for Lazare Bruandet (1755–1804), one of the precursors of the Barbizon School who painted en plein air in the Forest of Fontainebleau; this attribution, while not certain, is nonetheless plausible, though I believe it to be a bit morelate: to be investigated further!
Very difficult to photograph due to the contrast between the magnificent skyand the undergrowth, at the edge of which stands a large oak tree struck by lightning; it deserves to be examined in detail.
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