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The Washerwomen

Image credit: Glasgow Life Museums

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Notes

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The setting of this small landscape is reminiscent of Courbet's native village of Ornans, in the Franche Comté, on the River Loue. A group of houses, partially in shadow, overlook a riverbank on which we can just make out the tiny figures of women washing clothes.

We know very little about this painting – it is not even certain that it is by Courbet himself. We do know that the painting was already in Glasgow as early as 1888 when it was lent to the International Exhibition – under the title of 'Houses by a River' – by the Glaswegian collector A. J. Kirkpatrick. When Kirkpatrick's collection was sold in 1914, William Burrell acquired the painting through the Scottish dealer Alexander Reid.
Title

The Washerwomen

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 20.3 x W 27.9 cm

Accession number

35.69

Acquisition method

gift from Sir William and Lady Burrell to the City of Glasgow, 1944

Work type

Painting

Inscription description

signed/dated

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The Burrell Collection

Pollok Country Park, 2060 Pollokshaws Road, Glasgow G43 1AT Scotland

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