Promeneur assis au pied d’un saule

With Promeneur assis auprès d’un saule, the young Claude Monet focuses his attention on a willow tree. Paying particular attention to its contours and textures, he employs a subtle chiaroscuro effect to create a striking contrast between the dark forms of the tree and the ivory page of the sketchbook. Here, the artist aligns himself with tradition, recalling the picturesque horticultural specimens that were a favorite subject of Dutch landscape painters in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as well as the protagonists of the Barbizon School.