2-999-575 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Cattle Drinking, 1851. Troyon is best known for his animal paintings but, in fact, specialized in landscape painting in his early career. This picturesque view shows a scene on the banks of the Touques River in Normandy where he painted regularly in the 1850s together with Eugène Boudin and Emile van Marcke. The sun is directly overhead, fringing the clouds, shimmering on the water, and illuminating the backs of the cows. Troyon's mastery of light was admired by the young Claude Monet. So highly regarded was this river scene that it was included in an exhibition held in 1883 in the galleries of Georges Petit, Paris, to celebrate the world's alleged "One Hundred Masterpieces."