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Jean-Joseph-Xavier Bidauld (French, 1758–1846). Running Stream at San Cosimato, 1788. Oil on paper mounted on canvas, 12 1/4 x 19 5/8 in. (31.1 x 49.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund and Healy Purchase Fund B, 1996.93
Bidauld earned a place among the pioneers of open-air painting with a five-year stint working in the hidden corners of the Italian countryside during the 1780s. Rivers and streams offered an opportunity to study the contrast between the rough-edged rocks lining riverbeds and those worn smooth by centuries of running waters. These subjects posed a favorite challenge: capturing the constant motion of powerfully churning rapids and delicately swirling eddies.
Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum