# The Rock of Hautepierre

**Gustave Courbet** (French, 1819–1877)  
c. 1869  
Oil on canvas  
80.2 × 100.3 cm (31 1/2 × 39 1/2 in.); Framed: 113.1 × 134 × 11.5 cm (44 1/2 × 52 3/4 × 4 1/2 in.)

Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1967.140. [The museum's record](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/27027).

## About this work

A pale limestone cliff rises above a valley under a broad sky, a landscape of the Jura near Gustave Courbet’s native Ornans in eastern France. Courbet painted the rocks of his home region again and again, often building up their rough surfaces with a palette knife so that the paint itself seems to have the weight and texture of stone. The picture belongs to his later years, when landscapes made up a large share of his work and found a ready market.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Gustave Courbet painted this in about 1869, aged about 45. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago.

### What you’re looking at

A work made of oil on canvas.

_Description from the Art Institute of Chicago._

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Gustave Courbet](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/gustave-courbet)

French, 1819–1877; born in Ornans; died in La Tour-de-Peilz

Courbet left his native Ornans for Paris and became the standard-bearer of Realism, painting ordinary people and his own region on the scale reserved for history painting, as in A Burial at Ornans. When works were refused for the 1855 Exposition Universelle, he showed them in his own Pavilion of Realism. He also painted landscapes, seascapes and hunting scenes. After the Paris Commune of 1871 he was held responsible for the toppling of the Vendôme Column and spent his last years in exile in Switzerland.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Culture: France
- The artist was about 45
- Real size: about 31 × 39 in (80 × 100 cm). The 30 × 40 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 19th century
- Subjects: landscape, cliff, clouds, field, France, French, house, mountain
- Colour: olive
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/113.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/113/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108; 30 × 40 in $148
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258; 30 × 40 in $338
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148; 24 × 36 in $178; 30 × 40 in $228
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5; 30 × 40 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/the-rock-of-hautepierre-aic-27027).