Landscape after Ruisdael: Ray of Sunlight 1860

Editor: This is Charles François Daubigny’s "Landscape after Ruisdael: Ray of Sunlight," from the Harvard Art Museums. It's a print, and it feels so moody, almost theatrical with the dramatic sky and the contrasting light. What strikes you when you look at this piece? Curator: Ah, Daubigny, always the poet of the ordinary. I see him not just copying Ruisdael, but channeling him. He's reaching back in time, grabbing hold of that Dutch Golden Age light, and then splashing it across a very French landscape. Notice how that single ray, it's almost like a spotlight, isn’t it? Guiding your eye. Editor: It really is! I hadn't thought about it as a spotlight before, but that makes so much sense. I guess I was just caught up in the overall drama of the scene. Curator: Well, the drama is definitely there, but it’s a very controlled drama. It is interesting to think about how artists build on each other’s visions.