Rousseau, (Pierre-Etienne-) Théodore

(born April 15, 1812, Paris, Fr.—died Dec. 22, 1867, Barbizon) French painter. A tailor's son, he began to paint at 14 and soon was painting outdoors directly from nature, a novel practice at the time. Because he strayed from the academic path, his work was consistently rejected by the Salon. From the 1830s he painted regularly in the village of Barbizon, where he became a leader of the Barbizon school of landscape painters. His paintings, which show nature as a wild, undisciplined force, counter the calmly idealized landscapes of Neoclassicism, and his small, highly textured brushstrokes presage those of the Impressionists.

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