Cows Crossing a Ford

Cattle wade through a shallow stream beneath a wide, cloud-scudded sky, their reflections breaking in the water. Jules Dupré was a leading figure of the Barbizon School, the group of French painters who turned to the countryside for unvarnished nature, and this 1836 canvas shows his love of dramatic weather: heavy clouds, a shaft of sunlight, and the deep greens of the riverbank. It is a pastoral made thrilling by the sky overhead.