Painting Collection

Thomas Couture

Seated Nude in a Landscape

(1815—1879)
Seated Nude in a Landscape 
n.d.
oil on canvas
25 1/2 x 35 5/8 inches

While Thomas Couture purposefully deviated from certain academic traditions favored by the Parisian salons, his Seated Nude in a Landscape demonstrates, with its careful modeling and blended brushstrokes, a fairly academically posed nude. She appears to be lit from the front—a cold beam illuminating her face and chest. This luminosity is matched only by its opposite—dark, rich shadows cast on the wooded backdrop of stones and trees.