The Oak and the Reed (Le chene et le roseau)

107: The Oak and the Reed (Le chene et le roseau)

Achille-Etna Michallon
Paris 1796 - 1822 Paris

PD.180-1991: Fitzwilliam Museum
Rights held by: The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, purchased with the assistance of the Gow Fund with contributions from the Museums and Galleries Commission/Victoria & Albert Museum Purchase Grant Fund and the National Art Collections Fund"

When Michallon died of pneumonia at age 25, he was considered the most promising landscape painter of his generation. He was born the son of a sculptor, began drawing lessons at eight, and studied under Jacques-Louis David and Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes at the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris. He debuted at the Salon in 1812, at the age of 16 and was the first recipient of the Prix de Rome for historical landscape in 1817, which allowed him to study in Rome. There, he met François-Marius Granet and Johann Christian Clausen Dahl, among others, and when he returned to Paris, he opened a teaching studio attended by Camille Corot.

Text written and researched by Michelle Bird National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.

Oil on canvas
43.5 × 53.5 cm

Created: 1816