The Eagle's Nest, Forest of Fontainbleau
Framed: 34 7/8 × 40 7/8 inches (88.57 × 103.81 cm)
- 126
Recent purchases from The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (officially untitled), The Kansas City Art Institute, May 11, 1930–at least December 14, 1931.
Théodore Rousseau: The Language of Nature, Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, New York, February 6–March 9, 2002, no. 30, as Vaches descendant des montagnes, le soir (Cows Returning from the Mountainside in the Evening).
Probably purchased from the artist by Galeries Durand-Ruel, Paris, in half-shares with Hector Brame, Paris, Durand-Ruel stock book no. 10,633, as Défilé de troupes 78me, summer 1867–1869 [1];
Probably given by Durand-Ruel to Eloy Adolphe Joseph Herman (né Hermant, 1822–1903), Paris, March 1869–1872 [2];
Probably purchased from Herman by Durand-Ruel, Paris, stock no. 1880, as Défilé de troupes dans une forêt, 1872 [3];
Probably purchased from Durand-Ruel by Chevalier Alfred de Knyff (Belgian, 1819–1885), Paris, September 2, 1872 [4];
Joseph Spiridon (1845–1930), Paris, by 1880;
Purchased from Spiridon by Goupil et Cie, Paris, stock no. 14313, as Le Ravin, April 3–June 23, 1880 [5];
Purchased from Goupil by Knoedler and Co., New York, June 23–28, 1880;
Purchased from Knoedler by Goupil, stock no. 14695, as Le Ravin, June 28, 1880 [6];
Purchased from Goupil by Eugène Secrétan (1836–1899), Paris, June 28, 1880;
Acquired from Secrétan by Arnold et Tripp, Paris [7];
Pedro Eugénio Daupias, visconde and conde Daupias (1818–1900), Lisbon, before October 9, 1882 [8];
Purchased from Daupias by Goupil et Cie, Paris, stock no. 16318, as Le Ravin, October 9–November 28, 1882 [9];
Purchased from by Goupil by James Staats Forbes (1823–1904), London, November 28, 1882;
Returned by Forbes to Boussod, Valadon, et Cie, Paris, by December 6, 1885 [10];
Purchased from Boussod, Valadon, et Cie by Emile van Marcke de Lummen (1827–1890), Bouttencourt, France, no later than December 24, 1890 [11];
Bequeathed to his daughter, Marie Diéterle (née Van Marcke de Lummen, 1856–1935), Paris, December 24, 1890;
Given to her son, Jean Diéterle (1881–1972), Paris, before April 15, 1930;
Purchased from Diéterle, through John Levy Galleries, New York, by Findlay Galleries, Kansas City, MO, by April 15, 1930 [12];
Purchased from Findlay Galleries, through Harold Woodbury Parsons, by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1930.
NOTES:
[1] See Durand-Ruel stock book, 1868–73, no. 10,633, Les Archives Durand-Ruel, Paris. These purchases were made in fifty-fifty shares with Hector Brame. “78ème” indicates that the painting was 78th of a batch of 91 pictures purchased from Rousseau. See also Simon Kelly, Théodore Rousseau and the Rise of the Modern Art Market: An Avant-Garde Landscape Painter in Nineteenth-Century France (New York: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2021), 232. It is likely that “Défilé de troupes” is the Nelson-Atkins painting, since the other paintings with a similar subject are accounted for in other collections.
[2] In Kelly’s book (cited above), “Défilé de troupes 78me” is listed as purchased by Durand-Ruel from Rousseau and then given to Mr. Herman in March 1869.
Adolphe Herman was a violin virtuoso and composer, who also purchased other works from Durand-Ruel; see Paul-Louis and Flavie Durand-Ruel, Paul Durand-Ruel: Memoirs of the First Impressionist Art Dealer (1831–1922) (Paris: Flammarion, 2014): 40, 112, 250n86, where Durand-Ruel spells the musician’s name with two Ns. Contrary to the biography in A. P., “Nécrologie,” Le Ménestrel, March 29, 1903, 103, Adolphe was not the same person as Constant Hermant, who had different parents and died at age 13 months. See Constant’s death record, Douai, Naissance, Mariage, Décès, Ta [1823-1825] 5 Mi 020 R 047, Archives départementales du Nord, https://archivesdepartementales.lenord.fr/ark:/33518/kj9hbrn3c51v/eaf75aed-d060-41e0-9bfb-e2b4547173ae. Adolphe was born on November 9, 1822; see his birth record, Douai, Naissance, Mariage, Décès, [1821-1823], 5 Mi 020 R 046, Archives départementales du Nord, https://archivesdepartementales.lenord.fr/ark:/33518/kr5sn8vp241l/33239260-a4a0-4caf-afca-c60c2df082bc, and his record of decease, “Paris 17, BMD records (deaths),” no. 771, for March 25, 1903; digitized on Geneanet.com.
[3] See Durand-Ruel stock book 1868–1873, where Herman is listed as the buyer and only the year of purchase is specified (no month or day); as per email from Simon Kelly, Saint Louis Art Museum, to Nicole Myers, Nelson-Atkins, July 21, 2014, NAMA curatorial files.
[4] De Knyff was a Belgian landscape painter, a pupil of Rousseau, and later an important patron of his works. He was a Chevalier of the Legion d’Honneur and a member of the Order of Léopold. See Kelly, Théodore Rousseau and the Rise of the Modern Art Market, 112; and “Knyff, Alfred de, French, 1819–1885,” National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, https://www.nga.gov/collection/provenance-info.10180.html#biography.
[5] See Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Goupil stock book 10, page 93, row 15, stock no. 14313, http://hdl.handle.net/10020/900239b10, and page 119, row 8, stock no. 14695.
[6] See Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Goupil stock book 10, page 119, row 8, stock no. 14695. The painting had not yet been shipped to Knoedler in New York when Secrétan saw it at Goupil’s and wanted to buy it. See Frédéric Gilbert, “Un Curieux Procès à Horizon,” Le Gaulois, October 25, 1885.
[7] According to L. K., “Frauds in French Art,” New York Times 31, no. 10,689 (December 6, 1885): 11, Secrétan exchanged paintings with the dealer. The painting does not appear in the records of Arnold et Tripp, 1881–1892, Dieterle Family Records of French Art Galleries, 1846–1986, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles. Thanks to Mahsa Hatam, Archives and Special Collections, Getty Research Institute.
[8] See L. K., “Frauds in French Art,” 11. Pedro Eugénio Daupias ran a successful wool factory that he inherited from his grandfather. He formed one of the most important art collections in Portugal in the 1870s and 1880s.
In 1882, Daupias published a catalogue of his collection of modern paintings and sculptures. See Collection du Vte. Daupias: École Moderne, Tableaux, Aquarelles, Sculptures (Lisbon: Lallement Frères Imprimeurs, 1882), no. 252, p. 42, as Le nid de l’aigle. This is the same title given to the etching by Théophile-Narcisse Chauvel after the painting; the colophon of the etching reads “LE NID DE L’AIGLE / Gravé par Th. Chauvel d’aprés le tableau original de Th. Rousseau.”
[9] See Goupil stock book 11, page 56, row 9, stock no. 16318, http://hdl.handle.net/10020/900239_FL1681194. See also a photograph from 1969 in the NAMA curatorial files of the painting’s stretcher, showing an inscription on the horizontal crossbar: “G & Co 16318.”
[10] The firm Boussod, Valadon, et Cie, successors of Goupil et Cie, took back the painting from Forbes by December 6, 1885; see L. K., “Frauds in French Art,” 11.
[11] See letter from dealer John Levy, April 21, 1930, NAMA curatorial file. It states that the painting was purchased directly from the artist by Boussod, Valadon, et Cie, who then sold it to Charles Émile Van Marcke. He bequeathed the painting to his daughter, Marie Dieterle. John Levy Galleries purchased the painting from her son, Jean Diéterle. While research has proven that Boussod, Valadon, et Cie did not buy the painting directly from the artist, there is no proof to contradict the purchase by Van Marcke and the painting’s subsequent inheritance narrative.
[12] See letter of authentication from W. C. Findlay, Findlay Galleries, to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, April 18, 1930, NAMA curatorial files.
John Levy had the painting on consignment from Diéterle when Mr. Findlay purchased it. See letter from John Levy to Harold Woodbury Parsons, December 4, 1934, NAMA curatorial files. Parsons saw the Rousseau at Findlay Gallery sometime before April 15, 1930; see letter from J. C. Nichols to R. A. Holland, April 15, 1930, NAMA curatorial files.
Explication des Ouvrages de Peinture et Dessins, Sculpture, Architecture, et Gravure des Artistes Vivans, exh. cat. (Paris: Charles de Mourgues Fréres, 1881), 440, as “le Nid de l’aigle, d’après Th. Rousseau.”
Paul Leroi, “Salon de 1881: Dessins, Aquarelles, Pastels, Émaux, Gravure, et Lithographie,” L’Art: Revue Hebdomadaire Illustrée 7, no. 3 (1881): 133–34, as “le Nid de l’aigle, d’après Th. Rousseau.”
“Au Jour le Jour,” Le Temps, no. 7340 (May 27, 1881): unpaginated, as “le Nid de l’aigle, d’après Th. Rousseau.”
V. J. V., “Concours et expositions,” La Chronique des Arts et de la Curiosité, no. 22 (May, 28 1881): 174, as “d’après le Nid d’aigle, de Théodore Rousseau.”
“Foreign Art Chronicle,” American Art Review 2, no. 9 (July 1881): 141, as “le Nid de l’aigle, d’après Th. Rousseau.”
Eugène Guillaume, “Le Salon de 1881,” Revue des Deux Mondes 46, no. 1 (July 1, 1881): 194.
Théodore Véron, Dictionnaire Véron Organe de l’institut Universel des Sciences, des Lettres et des Arts du XIXe Siècle suivi du Salon de 1881 (Paris: Chez M. Bazin, 1881): 680, as “le Nid de l’aigle, d’après Th. Rousseau.”
Collection du Vte. Daupias: École Moderne, Tableaux. Aquarelles, Sculptures (Lisbon: Lallement Frères Imprimeurs, 1882), 42, as Le nid de l’aigle.
Théophile de Lamathière, Panthéon de la Légion d’Honneur (Paris: Imprimeries Réunies, 1884), 22:29, as “le Nid de l’aigle, d’après Th. Rousseau.”
Frédéric Gilbert, “Un Curieux Procès à Horizon,” Le Gaulois, no. 1200 (October 25, 1885): unpaginated.
“Hommes et Choses,” Le Radical, no. 313 (November 9, 1885): unpaginated.
L. K., “Frauds in French Art,” New York Times 31, no. 10,689 (December 6, 1885): 11.
Émile Bellier de La Chavignerie, Dictionnaire Général des Artistes de L’école Française (Paris: Librairie Renouard, 1885), 2:S140, as “le Nid de l’aigle, d’après Th. Rousseau.”
Henri Beraldi, Les Graveurs du XIXe Siècle (Paris: Libraire L. Conquet, 1886), 4:154, 170, as “le Nid de l’aigle, d’après Th. Rousseau.”
Catalogue d’une Magnifique Collection d’Eaux-Fortes Modernes (Paris: Hôtel Drouot, January 26, 1886), 11, as “le Nid de l’aigle, d’après Th. Rousseau.”
Charles Frémine, “Exposition Gravures du Siècle,” Le Rappel, no. 6435 (October 23, 1887): unpaginated, as “le Nid de l’aigle, d’après Th. Rousseau.”
Jean le Fustec, “Chronique: Les Gravures du Siècle,” Journal des Artistes, no. 44 (November 6, 1887): 346, as “le Nid de l’aigle, d’après Th. Rousseau.”
Estampes Anciennes, Eaux-fortes Modernes (Paris: Hôtel Des Commissaires-Priseurs, November 24, 1888), 7, as “le Nid de l’aigle, d’après Th. Rousseau.”
Catalogue Général Officiel de l’Exposition Universelle de 1889 (Lille, France: Imprimerie L. Daniel, 1889), 1:117, as “le Nid de l’aigle, d’après Th. Rousseau.”
Pierre Larousse, Grand Dictionnaire Universel du XIXe Siècle: Français, Historique, Géographique, Mythologique, Bibliographique (Paris: Administration du Grand Dictionnaire Universel, 1890), 2:794, as “le Nid de l’aigle, d’après Th. Rousseau.”
Catalogue des Bronzes Importants Œuvres des Maîtres du Siècle (Paris: Hôtel Drouot, December 26–28, 1892), 28, as “le Nid de l’aigle, d’après Th. Rousseau.”
Eaux-fortes Modernes, École Ancienne, Estampes du XVIIIe Siècle (Paris: Hôtel Des Commissaires-Priseurs, April 21–22, 1892), 15, as “le Nid de l’aigle, d’après Th. Rousseau.”
Loÿs Delteil, Théophile Chauvel: Catalogue Raisonné de son Œuvre Gravé et Lithographié, avec Eaux-fortes Originales et Reproductions (Paris: Georges Rapilly, 1900), 16, 66, as “le Nid de l’aigle, d’après Th. Rousseau.”
“Dictionnaire Historique et Artistique de la Forêt de Fontainebleau par F. Herbert,” L’Abeille de Fontainebleau, no. 36 (September 4, 1903): unpaginated, as “le Nid de l’aigle, d’après Th. Rousseau.”
Felix Herbert, Dictionnaire Historique et Artistique de la Forêt de Fontainebleau (Fontainebleau: Maurice Bourges, 1903), 441, as “le Nid de l’aigle, d’après Th. Rousseau.”
Catalogue des Dessins et Estampes Anciens et Modernes de la Collection Alfred Barrion (Paris: Hôtel Des Commissaires-Priseurs, 1904), 36, as “le Nid de l’aigle, d’après Th. Rousseau.”
Loÿs Delteil, Catalogue des Estampes Anciennes et Moderne (Paris: Hôtel Drouot, 1912), 6, as “le Nid de l’aigle, d’après Th. Rousseau.”
“‘A Wise Art Purchase: Trustees Grasped an Opportunity, H. W. Parsons Says,’” Kansas City Star 50, no. 212 (April 17, 1930): 1.
“Buy 10 Paintings: The First Purchase for the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art is Announced,” Kansas City Star 50, no. 212 (April 17, 1930): 1.
“Buy Paintings for the William Rockhill Nelson Art Collection,” Jefferson City Post-Tribune (April 17, 1930): 1.
“Paintings, Largely the Work of English Artists, Whose Purchase for the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Was Announced Today by the Trustees,” Kansas City Star 50, no. 212 (April 17, 1930): 18, (repro.), as Descent of Cows at Sunset.
M. R. R., “Ten Masterpieces Form the First Nelson Gallery Group: All of Great Beauty and Outstanding Importance, the Canvases by Eighteenth and Nineteenth-Century Masters, Offer an Impressive List of Authenticated Paintings,” Kansas City Star 50, no. 212 (April 17, 1930): 3, as Descent of Cows at Sunset.
“The First Nelson Gallery Purchases,” Kansas City Star 50, no. 213 (April 18, 1930): E.
“The Beginning of the Collection of Old Masters in These Ten Paintings Bought for William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art,” Kansas City Star 50, no. 215 (April 20, 1930): unpaginated, (repro.), as Descent of Cows at Sunset.
M[inna] K. P[owell], “Art Display Draws 800,” Kansas City Times (April 21, 1930), clipping, scrapbook, NAMA archives, vol. 1, p. 10, as The Descent of the Cows at Sunset.
“Art News,” Kansas City Journal-Post, no. 338 (May 11, 1930): 6D, as Descent of the Cows at Sunset.
“Add to Nelson Gallery,” Kansas City Times 93, no. 236 (October 2, 1930): 3, as Descent of the Cows at Sunset.
“What to See In Kansas City: A Guide to Principal Points of Interest Presented in the Style of A Baedeker,” Kansas City Star 52, no. 101 (December 27, 1931): 3C, as Cows Descending the Hills at Sunset.
Minna K. Powell, “Books That will Give Kansas Citians True Appreciation of Nelson Gallery,” Kansas City Star 53, no. 330 (August 13, 1933): 8D.
Thomas Carr Howe, “Kansas City Has Fine Art Museum: Nelson Gallery Ranks with the Best,” [newspaper unknown] (December, 1933), clipping, scrapbook, NAMA Archives, vol. 5, p. 6.
“Nelson Gallery of Art Special Number,” Art Digest 8, no. 5 (December 1, 1933): 13, 22, as Cows Descending the Hills at Sunset.
“The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City Special Number,” Art News 32, no. 10 (December 9, 1933): 28, 30, as Cows Descending the Hills at Sunset.
Minna K. Powell, “The First Exhibition of the Great Art Treasures: Paintings and Sculpture, Tapestries and Panels, Period Rooms and Beautiful Galleries Are Revealed in the Collections Now Housed in the Nelson-Atkins Museum,” Kansas City Star 54, no. 84 (December 10, 1933): 4C.
The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Handbook of the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1933), 41, 138, as Cows Descending the Hills at Sunset.
The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, 2nd ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1941), 41.
Jean Adhémar, Inventaire du Fonds Français Après 1800 (Paris: Bibliothèque nationale de France, 1949), 424, as “le Nid de l’aigle, Forêt de Fontainebleau, d’après Th. Rousseau.”
Ross E. Taggart, ed., Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 4th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 261, as Cows Descending the Hills at Sunset.
Ross E. Taggart and George L. McKenna, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. 1, Art of the Occident, 5th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), 157, 258, (repro.), as Cows Descending the Hills at Sunset.
Robert H. Terte, “The Phenomenal Nelson Gallery,” Antiques World 1, no. 3 (January 1979): 49.
Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 131.
Michael Churchman and Scott Erbes, High Ideals and Aspirations: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1933–1993 (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 25.
George L. McKenna, The Collections of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: Prints 1460–1995 (Kansas City, MO: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in association with The University of Washington Press, 1996), 295, as Cows Descending the Hills at Sunset.
Michel Schulman, Théodore Rousseau, 1812–1867: Catalogue Raisonné de l’Œuvre Peint (Paris: Éditions de l’Amateur, 1999), no. 642, p. 2:326, (repro.), as Vaches descendant des montagnes le soir.
Michel Schulman, Théodore Rousseau: The Language of Nature, exh. cat. (New York: Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, 2002), 80–81, (repro.), as Vaches descendant des montagnes, le soir (Cows Returning from the Mountainside in the Evening).
Catherine Futter et al., Bloch Galleries: Highlights from the Collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2016), 34, (repro.), as Cows Descending the Hills at Sunset.
Probably Simon Kelly, Théodore Rousseau and the Rise of the Modern Art Market: An Avant-Garde Landscape Painter in Nineteenth-Century France (New York: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2021), 232, as Défilé de troupes 78me.
Kelly Presutti, Land into Landscape: Art, Environment, and the Making of Modern France (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2024), 126–28, (repro.), as Cows Descending the Hills at Sunset.
Simon Kelly, “Théodore Rousseau, The Eagle’s Nest, Forest of Fontainebleau, ca. 1837–67,” catalogue entry, and Mary Schafer and John Twilley, “Théodore Rousseau, The Eagle’s Nest, Forest of Fontainebleau, ca. 1837–67,” technical entry in French Paintings and Pastels, 1600–1945: The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, ed. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan (Kansas City: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2025), https://doi.org/10.37764/78973.5.532.
