Painting of the Day: Jeune fille Portant un Chien, Sous-Bois 1840

The Victoria & Albert Museum

Known in the U.K. as “Girl with Dogs,” the proper title of this painting is Jeune fille Portant un Chien, Sous-Bois. This masterpiece comes from the hand of Narcisse-Virgile Diaz de la Peña (1807-1876), a French painter of Spanish birth. De la Peña first worked as a porcelain painter in 1825, but shortly after trained under the artist François Souchon (1787-1857). As time passed, he began exhibiting, with much acclaim, landscapes and genre scenes at the Paris Salon from 1831 to 1859. By the end of his life, he was celebrated by a new generation of artists who were about to form the Impressionist movement.

This painting demonstrates the look of Diaz de la Peña's early works. A young lady is depicted in a woody landscape with dogs. The artist’s favored pastel palette juxtaposes his strong emphasis on the rendering of light. His characteristic broken brushwork and interest in naturalism—soon to become the hallmark of the Barbizon school—is immediately apparent.

Of note, this painting was part of the collection amassed by the Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend, who bequeathed this canvas among many others as well as his important collection of gems to the V&A in 1868.