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The River Seine at Mantes

Charles-François Daubigny

European Art

Charles-François Daubigny explores the coexistence of work and leisure in this view of Mantes, located on the Seine near Paris. A middleclass woman with a fishing rod approaches the river, while the boat steaming toward the bridge indicates the river’s function as a working waterway. Another figure in the background wears the blue jacket traditionally worn by rural French laborers. Juxtaposing the Gothic towers and pitched roof of the town’s church with an active smokestack, Daubigny also acknowledges France’s historical past and its industrial present.
MEDIUM Oil on canvas
  • Place Made: France
  • DATES ca. 1856
    DIMENSIONS 19 1/16 x 29 3/4 in. (48.4 x 75.6 cm) Frame: 33 1/8 x 43 3/4 x 5 1/2 in.  (show scale)
    SIGNATURE Signed lower left: "Daubigny"
    COLLECTIONS European Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 33.271
    CREDIT LINE Gift of Cornelia E. and Jennie A. Donnellon
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Charles-François Daubigny (Paris, France, 1817–1878, Paris, France). The River Seine at Mantes, ca. 1856. Oil on canvas, 19 1/16 x 29 3/4 in. (48.4 x 75.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Cornelia E. and Jennie A. Donnellon, 33.271 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 33.271_SL1.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 33.271_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2009
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