Paul-Désiré Trouillebert (1829-1900) - The Laundresses

Oil on canvas signed lower right
Dimensions : H. 33 x W. 41 cm (with frame : H. 52 x W. 62 cm)

Reproduced in the catalog Raisonné of the painted work C.Marumo, Th Maier, B.Mullerschön / Stuttgart 2004, under the n° 0512 page 389

Sale of the Trouillebert studio in 1894, n°48
Sale at the Palais Galliera / Ader-Picard-Tajan in June 1974 then Private collection until 2021

Paul-Désiré Trouillebert was born in 1829 in Paris.
He is one of the greatest outdoor landscape painters of the French 19th century. He is the artist closest to Corot both in the style of his painting and in the friendly relations that the two painters maintained throughout their lives.

Trouillebert is attached to the Barbizon school because of his predilection for the landscape motif as well as for his style. He trained with the renowned portraitist Ernest Hébert (1817-1908) and in the studio of Charles-François Jalabert (1819-1901). Trouillebert was first noticed for his portraits and nudes: the portrait of Mademoiselle A. allowed him to be accepted at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1865, where he exhibited until 1884.

Trouillebert traveled extensively in France, notably in Brittany, the Loire and on the banks of the Seine. He was part of the movement of traditionalist plein air painters, as he stated in an interview with a journalist from L'Echo de Paris in 1890: "I only work from nature, I do not admit the study copied in the studio. "

In our painting, the artist presents one of his favorite subjects, washerwomen at the edge of a stream, near large trees. The composition is particularly successful. It gives a great place to the sky and the water. The sky, blue and bright, with moving clouds, is beautifully rendered. In the front, small white touches in a multitude of greens, come to illuminate a vegetation provided. We find the effects of transparency typical of Trouillebert which give the trees this particular vibration. In this painting, the artist has worked a lot on the colors and transparencies to achieve a very finished result, combining the fineness of the drawing and the strength of the material. The painting is in a beautiful state of conservation, and is presented in a beautiful old wooden frame and gilded stucco from the 19th century.

Museums :
Paris, Musée d'Orsay
Paris, Petit Palais
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Baltimore, Walters Art Museum
Cleveland, Museum of Art
Saint Petersburg, Hermitage Museum
Valparaiso, Fine Arts Museum