Landscape with stag

This picture shows technical features characteristic of Courbet such as the traditional reddish brown ground, the use of a palette knife and the application of paint with a sponge. The picture dates from a period in the artist’s life when, following his imprisonment after the Paris Commune of 1871, he lived in exile in Switzerland. Many of his works at this time were painted in collaboration with a team of assistants whom he had trained to imitate his style.