Description
| Title: | Landscape With Milkmaids |
| Other titles: | Landscape With Milkmaids (catalogue) |
| Painter: | Henri Rousseau |
| Year painted: | not confirmed with the museum |
| Original size: | 41.3 cm x 52.7 cm (height x width, as published) |
| Original technique: | oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | naive art (primitivism) |
| Held at: | McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, USA (as published) |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on canvas, ten sizes or a size made to order |
Landscape With Milkmaids is a painting by Henri Rousseau, oil on canvas; according to published records it is held by the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio. What you see: cows and a horse grazing beneath two huge old trees, milkmaids in white caps with baskets among them, and a small black dog on the path. We paint it by hand in oils, in ten sizes or to measure, and send you a photograph of the finished painting before dispatch.
Landscape With Milkmaids
What is on the canvas?
At the left and right rise two enormous old trees with thick, pale grey trunks and dense green crowns that almost meet above the middle. Beneath them a white cow with brown patches, a black-and-white cow and a grey-white horse graze on the grass, with a small black dog beside them. At the left stands a woman in a white cap with a basket, a second walks through the middle with a large basket, and a girl in a white cap sits by the right-hand trunk. A sandy path winds across the front, with hedges, brown cattle and a wooden fence behind. The signature is at the lower left. Another Rousseau meadow with cattle is The Banks of the Oise.
What does the painting mean?
Rousseau paints a quiet country corner here: milkmaids, cattle and trees that look older than all the people around them. The trunks and crowns are painted with great patience, leaf by leaf, while the people and animals are small and calm. We could not read the museum’s own entry, so we give no year. On a wall a painting like this brings the feeling of a shady summer afternoon. Another Rousseau country scene is Scene in Bagneux on the Outskirts of Paris.
Which size suits which room?
The published size of the original is 41.3 cm high and 52.7 cm wide; 125 x 98 cm keeps its proportion exactly. Ten sizes are available: 67 x 55, 75 x 58, 80 x 63, 90 x 71, 95 x 75, 100 x 81, 110 x 85, 116 x 89, 125 x 98 and 135 x 105 cm. The green, shady landscape suits a living room, a bedroom or a kitchen; 67 x 55 or 80 x 63 cm is enough for a smaller wall, and above a sofa we recommend 100 x 81 cm or larger. Above a sofa the painting usually takes about two thirds of the width of the furniture; above a bed it should stay narrower than the headboard. Custom sizes are ordered through the made-to-order painting page, where you enter the width and height; we suggest keeping the proportion of the original and changing only the scale. A Rousseau meadow is also Meadowland.
How is the painting made, and does it come framed?
Your canvas is begun only after you order it, and is painted by hand in oils in our workshop in Slovenia, at the size you choose. The painter lays in the pale sky between the crowns and the green background first, then both trees with their trunks and leaves, then the grass and the path, and last the animals, the milkmaids and the dog. We do not print, and no machine application is used, so no two versions are exactly alike. The canvas is stretched on a wooden frame and arrives ready to hang; a picture frame is not included in the price and is chosen separately. Before packing we photograph the finished painting and send you the photograph for approval; only then does it travel. A landscape from the surroundings of Paris by the same painter is Environs de Paris. The whole collection is in the Henri Rousseau gallery.
How is it delivered, and what do we guarantee?
We deliver to Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Austria, Hungary and Germany. Depending on its size, the canvas travels rolled in a rigid tube or stretched on its frame, always in protective wrapping and as a tracked parcel. The making time depends on the size and is confirmed when you order. We guarantee that every painting is painted by hand and that you see a photograph of the finished work before dispatch; if anything in it is not as you wish, we correct it before it leaves the workshop.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original kept?
According to published records, at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, USA; we could not read the museum’s own entry, so we do not link to it.
When was it painted?
We could not check the year with the museum, so we give none.
Is a frame included?
No. The canvas is stretched on a wooden frame and ready to hang without a picture frame; a frame can be chosen separately.
Is this a print?
No. It is painted by hand in oils, and the layers of paint can be seen and felt.
Is the painting suitable as a gift?
Yes, especially for someone who loves the countryside, animals and great trees. If you would rather the recipient chose, there is a gift voucher.
- Subject: milkmaids in white caps, cows, a horse and a black dog under two huge old trees.
- Original: oil on canvas, 41.3 x 52.7 cm (as published), McNay Art Museum, San Antonio; year not confirmed.
- Our version: hand-painted oil, ten sizes from 67 x 55 to 135 x 105 cm or to measure, unframed, photograph before dispatch.
- Of note: the 125 x 98 cm size keeps the proportion of the original exactly.
