Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and the Romanticism of the previous generation of visual artists.
 
Using some of the darkest and most luscious pigments to create as much depth as possible in this painting, I revisit Courbet's palette, his landscapes and his deepest greens, verging on black.
 
The painting is finished in a bespoke walnut hue frame with deep shadow gap.