Hillside with Rocky Outcrops

Troyon found great critical and commercial success in the 1850s with his images of the pastoral French countryside. A career-long passion for open-air painting compelled Troyon to travel widely throughout France with his paint box. Here, he innovatively employs his palette knife—a tool typically used to mix colors—rather than his brush to lay thick layers of pure pigment on the panel. Moreover, Troyon allows the negative space (the unpainted portions of the panel) to define the contours of the steep hillside.