Forest Interior with a Painter, Civita Castellana

André Giroux

National Gallery of Art

Boulders hulk at the center of a dense forest in this horizontal landscape painting on paper. A clearing along the bottom edge of the composition leads to a person facing away from us while standing at an easel. One hand is lifted to the canvas or paper on the easel, and the person wears a light gray coat. A light brown dog sits attentively at the artist’s back. Sunlight falls from an unseen opening in the canopy onto the boulders, which glow caramel brown and slate gray, and trees curve up and over to enclose the artist and rocks. The scene is loosely painted in earthy greens, and brushstrokes are especially visible in the boulders and the vegetation making a screen in the background.