Painting Detail
Road in the WoodArtist: Narcisse Diaz de la Pena
Medium: Painting, Oil on panel, 29x35 cm
Date: 1850s
Genre: Landscape
Source: 1925
As he painted the landscape around the forest of Fontainebleau, Diaz partly preserved the Romantic tendencies which were inherent in his early work.
In this particular canvas the twisting trunks and branches of the trees seem to form arches through which the road leads into the depths. The sunlight which pierces through from behind the clouds and then through the thick crowns of the trees creates a decorative effect, forcing the grass in the meadow, the bark on the trees and the lacy green leaves to twinkle and sparkle. The dark, intense colouring is dominated by olive-green and sandy-brown tones, enlivened by greyish-blue strips of sky and the figure of a woman in red and blue walking along the road.