Rousseau, Théodore (tāōdôr` r

sō`), 1812–67, French landscape painter; leader of the Barbizon school Barbizon school (bär'bĭzōN`, bär`bĭzŏn'), an informal school of French landscape painting that flourished c.
..... Click the link for more information. . He first received recognition in the Salon of 1848 and was commissioned by the state to paint his Sortie de la forêt de Fontainebleau (Louvre). Thereafter he enjoyed a modest success and lived simply in Barbizon near his friend J. F. Millet. Rousseau's landscapes are grave and full of a deep love of solitude. He is best represented in the Metropolitan Museum and in the Louvre.

Rousseau, (Pierre-Etienne-) Théodore

(born April 15, 1812, Paris, Fr.—died Dec. 22, 1867, Barbizon) French painter. A tailor's son, he began to paint at 14 and soon was painting outdoors directly from nature, a novel practice at the time. Because he strayed from the academic path, his work was consistently rejected by the Salon. From the 1830s he painted regularly in the village of Barbizon, where he became a leader of the Barbizon school of landscape painters. His paintings, which show nature as a wild, undisciplined force, counter the calmly idealized landscapes of Neoclassicism, and his small, highly textured brushstrokes presage those of the Impressionists.