Shop
Museum
Overview
Exhibitions
Collections
Education
Publications
Clark Connects
Art on the Grounds
Study Center
Image Not Available
Zoom
Download
JPEG images are suitable for most presentation uses. TIFF images are suitable for publication purposes. When using images, please reproduce caption and credit information. For details or further information, click here.
If the file does not immediately download, it should open in a new tab. Once opened, right–click the image to save.
Audio
Constant Troyon
French, 1810–1865
The Gooseherd
c. 1850–55
The gooseherd in Troyon’s painting drives his flock along a country road, the birds casting long shadows in the bright sunlight. In contrast to the artist’s earlier, more controlled style, the quick, lively brushwork gives this scene a sense of movement. Fellow painter Camille Roqueplan probably inspired this more spontaneous approach, urging Troyon to “interpret what he felt” when painting nature.
Image Caption
Constant Troyon, The Gooseherd, c. 1850–55, oil on panel. Clark Art Institute, 1955.550
Medium
oil on panel
Dimensions
18 3/16 x 14 5/8 in. (46.2 x 37.1 cm)
Frame: 26 x 22 1/2 x 3 3/8 in. (66 x 57.2 x 8.6 cm)
Object Number
1955.550
Acquisition
Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955
Status
Off View
Select Bibliography
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Five: French Paintings of the 19th Century. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1956. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1970. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1972. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984. Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992. Ganz, James A. and Richard R. Brettell. Great French Paintings from the Clark: Barbizon through Impressionism. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Skira Rizzoli Publications; Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2011. Lees, Sarah, ed. Nineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven and London: distributed by Yale University Press, 2012.
Provenance
Viscount de Saint Pierre, Paris (until 1872, his sale, Drouot, Paris, 22 Jan. 1872, no. 14, as Jeune garçon conduisant un troupeau d’oies, sold to Pillet-Will); Count Frédéric Alexis Louis Pillet-Will, Paris (1872–d. 1911); Maurice or Frédéric Pillet-Will, his son, by descent (1911–19); [Galerie J. Allard, Paris, sold to Knoedler, 1919]; [Knoedler, Paris, sold to Clark, 31 Oct. 1919]; Robert Sterling Clark (1919–55); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955.