The verve in the execution of this snapshot derives both from Grigorescu’s feeling before nature, and from the utter mastery attained by the artist at that time. A single stroke of the brush gives rise to a silhouette, a shape, a volume, be they in movement or static. One might say that the artist does not establish a hierarchy among the protagonists of the motif, who are painted with the same impetus: the beasts of burden are rendered in their heavy and sure stride, the young peasant with the dignity of a prince in his attire, the draw well which finishes the composition in a triangle in the centre of the image, the celestial vault with the moving clouds dominating the scene.
The chosen theme, the synthetic nature of the strokes, the defining role of the whites, the technical data of the medium (wood, sizes, verso painted in grey) include the work in the rich cycle of Grigorescu’s landscapes in his final stage of creation. The time 1903 recorded on one of his works probably marks in Grigorescu’s art a final peak of his relation with nature.
Orig.: Adolf Grünberg-Ruleta collection, Bucharest.
