Description
Two men—one on horseback, the other on foot—follow a woman carrying her child on a donkey. Together they lead a herd of sheep to a local market, aided by the dog standing watch to the right. The group emerges from the misty atmosphere of the early morning, the haze yellowed by the dusty path. Constant Troyon was drawn to images of animals more than most of his Barbizon School peers, who included Camille Corot and Jean-François Millet. Later in his career Troyon was celebrated as an animalier, a painter of animals.
Provenance
E. Gaillard, Paris, by 1867; his sale for 7,000 francs [sale according to Narischkine sale catalogue, cited below; price according to Souillé 1900]. B. Narischkine, Paris, by 1883; his sale, Galerie George Petit, April 5, 1883, lot 83 as La Route du marché for 42,500 francs to Arnold & Tripp [price and buyer according to an annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague]; Arnold & Tripp, Paris. Henry Field (died 1890), Chicago; his widow Mrs. Florence Lathrop Field; given to the Art Institute, 1894.
Accession Number
896
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
92 × 73.4 cm (36 1/4 × 28 7/8 in.); Framed: 130.4 × 111.8 × 13.6 cm (51 3/8 × 44 × 5 3/8 in.)
Classification
painting
Credit Line
Henry Field Memorial Collection
