Théodore Fourmois (1814–71)
La Hulpe, 1865

Oil on canvas
McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Gift of Charles Hack and the Hearn Family Trust

Jeffery Howe
Professor Emeritus, Art History

Fourmois was one of the first Belgian artists to break away from the traditional formulae of landscape imagery and add fresh, direct observations. His depiction of the landscape at La Hulpe is a bucolic scene of cows browsing in a pasture with a light-filled valley in the distance.

A substantial barn may be glimpsed behind two large shady trees, which highlight the artist’s natural rendering of the chiaroscuro effect of contrasting sunlight and shade.