A French painter of the Barbizon school, Pierre Etienne Theodore Rousseau or simply Theodore Rousseau (April 15, 1812 – December 22, 1867), was born in Paris in a bourgeois family. Although he was trained in business, his aptitude for arts and painting was soon revealed. Rousseau’s areas of interest included the brilliance of the sea and skies, trees, rock formations, and the shifts in weather & light conditions, which he captured beautifully in his creations. Rousseau used to exhibit his paintings at the Salon in the early 1830s. After being rejected in 1836 however, he took an extreme step. The creator of “Edge of the Forest, near the Gorges d’Apremont,” Theodore, moved to settle in the village of Barbizon, the beautiful Fontainebleau region, where he set up the Barbizon School with other contemporary artists, including Jean-François Millet, Jules Dupré, and Charles-François Daubigny.Theodore Rousseau was extremely passionate about nature and for more than thirty years, he painted the rocky terrain and the ancient trees of the Forest of Fontainebleau. He was particularly fond of representing trees on the canvas and regarded trees as nearly human. He referred to his paintings of trees “portraits” and the trees as “beings.” His masterpieces are “La Déscente des vaches,” “The Chestnut Avenue,” “The Marsh in the Landes,” and “Hoar-Frost” among others. Theodore’s most famous painting “Edge of the Forest, near the Gorges d’Apremont” (1866) is one of his last exhibition-scale paintings depicting nature and trees, a subject he loved so dearly.Measuring 31.67″ x 39.58″, the painting is an oil on canvass work. The “Edge of the Forest, near the Gorges d’Apremont” portrays a grazing area on the rocky plateaus around the Gorges d’Apremont, in the Forest of Fontainebleau. The painting depicts a small herd of cows leisurely grazing and resting in a shadowy grove of chestnut trees, while their herder chats with a traveler on a horse. With extremely dramatic effect, Rousseau has been able to bring in the beauty, splendor, and the intricacies of forest life in the picture. One of the most fascinating features of the painting is the striking and beautiful color palette Rousseau used in depicting the scenery. From the colorful mosses and ferns that carpet the forest to the branches of the huge chestnut and oak trees and the white clouds dotting the sky, the colors are eye catching. Rousseau used stark orange tints, along with deep greens throughout the painting, which reflect the artist’s ability to bring the effect of the lively color variations seen in Japanese prints onto his own creations.Most of Theodore Rousseau’s works appear to be extremely grave, reflecting a somewhat melancholic feel, which is quite appealing for those who appreciate landscape art. Those that have been completed have an extremely good finish, but they are few in number. Rousseau left many of his paintings incomplete, with some parts of the painting filled in intricately and the rest only outlined. His famous painting “Edge of the Forest, near the Gorges d’Apremont” first appeared in an auction in 1952. It was in the collection of Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild of Paris and he might have directly acquired it from Rousseau. The beautiful and dramatic depiction of nature in the “Edge of the Forest, near the Gorges d’Apremont” epitomizes Rousseau’s style of painting.
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What Are The Greatest Changes In Shopping In Your Lifetime
What are the greatest changes in shopping in your lifetime? So asked my 9 year old grandson.
As I thought of the question the local Green Grocer came to mind. Because that is what the greatest change in shopping in my lifetime is.
That was the first place to start with the question of what are the greatest changes in shopping in your lifetime.
Our local green grocer was the most important change in shopping in my lifetime. Beside him was our butcher, a hairdresser and a chemist.
Looking back, we were well catered for as we had quite a few in our suburb. And yes, the greatest changes in shopping in my lifetime were with the small family owned businesses.
Entertainment While Shopping Has Changed
Buying butter was an entertainment in itself.
My sister and I often had to go to a favourite family grocer close by. We were always polite as we asked for a pound or two of butter and other small items.
Out came a big block of wet butter wrapped in grease-proof paper. Brought from the back of the shop, placed on a huge counter top and included two grooved pates.
That was a big change in our shopping in my lifetime… you don’t come across butter bashing nowadays.
Our old friendly Mr. Mahon with the moustache, would cut a square of butter. Lift it to another piece of greaseproof paper with his pates. On it went to the weighing scales, a bit sliced off or added here and there.
Our old grocer would then bash it with gusto, turning it over and over. Upside down and sideways it went, so that it had grooves from the pates, splashes going everywhere, including our faces.
My sister and I thought this was great fun and it always cracked us up. We loved it, as we loved Mahon’s, on the corner, our very favourite grocery shop.
Grocery Shopping
Further afield, we often had to go to another of my mother’s favourite, not so local, green grocer’s. Mr. McKessie, ( spelt phonetically) would take our list, gather the groceries and put them all in a big cardboard box.
And because we were good customers he always delivered them to our house free of charge. But he wasn’t nearly as much fun as old Mr. Mahon. Even so, he was a nice man.
All Things Fresh
So there were very many common services such as home deliveries like:
• Farm eggs
• Fresh vegetables
• Cow’s milk
• Freshly baked bread
• Coal for our open fires
Delivery Services
A man used to come to our house a couple of times a week with farm fresh eggs.
Another used to come every day with fresh vegetables, although my father loved growing his own.
Our milk, topped with beautiful cream, was delivered to our doorstep every single morning.
Unbelievably, come think of it now, our bread came to us in a huge van driven by our “bread-man” named Jerry who became a family friend.
My parents always invited Jerry and his wife to their parties, and there were many during the summer months. Kids and adults all thoroughly enjoyed these times. Alcohol was never included, my parents were teetotallers. Lemonade was a treat, with home made sandwiches and cakes.
The coal-man was another who delivered bags of coal for our open fires. I can still see his sooty face under his tweed cap but I can’t remember his name. We knew them all by name but most of them escape me now.
Mr. Higgins, a service man from the Hoover Company always came to our house to replace our old vacuum cleaner with an updated model.
Our insurance company even sent a man to collect the weekly premium.
People then only paid for their shopping with cash. This in itself has been a huge change in shopping in my lifetime.
In some department stores there was a system whereby the money from the cash registers was transported in a small cylinder on a moving wire track to the central office.
Some Of The Bigger Changes
Some of the bigger changes in shopping were the opening of supermarkets.
• Supermarkets replaced many individual smaller grocery shops. Cash and bank cheques have given way to credit and key cards.
• Internet shopping… the latest trend, but in many minds, doing more harm, to book shops.
• Not many written shopping lists, because mobile phones have taken over.
On a more optimistic note, I hear that book shops are popular again after a decline.
Personal Service Has Most Definitely Changed
So, no one really has to leave home, to purchase almost anything, technology makes it so easy to do online.
And we have a much bigger range of products now, to choose from, and credit cards have given us the greatest ease of payment.
We have longer shopping hours, and weekend shopping. But we have lost the personal service that we oldies had taken for granted and also appreciated.
Because of their frenetic lifestyles, I have heard people say they find shopping very stressful, that is grocery shopping. I’m sure it is when you have to dash home and cook dinner after a days work. I often think there has to be a better, less stressful way.
My mother had the best of both worlds, in the services she had at her disposal. With a full time job looking after 9 people, 7 children plus her and my dad, she was very lucky. Lucky too that she did not have 2 jobs.