Snowscape with Cows at Montfoucault
Camille Pissarro
French, 1830–1903
Details
Title
Snowscape with Cows at Montfoucault
Artist/Maker
Camille Pissarro (French, 1830–1903)
Date
1874
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
18 3/4 x 20 1/4 inches
Credit
Purchase with funds from Helen C. Griffith to honor Robert Sherrill Griffith, Jr. and from Joan N. Whitcomb in memory of Taylor Stuckey
Accession #
2007.128
Camille Pissarro’s Snowscape with Cows at Montfoucault depicts the home of fellow artist Ludovic Piette. His limited tonal palette of whites, grays, and greens conveys the stillness of a cold winter day to great effect. The thick application of white paint gives a tangible sense of heavy snow weighing down the barren tree boughs. Pissarro often idealized peasants and portrayed them with dignity in a subtle rebuke of capitalism. The laborers’ muted blue costumes add to the scene’s harmony.