Charles François Daubigny

Artist Charles François Daubigny sought quiet moments in nature and often painted in open air. In this view, a flock of ducks animates the rural landscape and massive clouds scatter reflections of light on a branch of the river Oise. The loose brushwork and atmospheric effects appear similar to work by younger French artists known as the Impressionists, but Daubigny was a member of the previous generation of landscape painters, known as the Barbizon School. Preferring to paint water views instead of the forest interiors most Barbizon artists depicted, Daubigny constructed a studio on a small boat and used it to explore rivers in the French countryside.