Oxen before a Farmhouse at Le Verrier

Oxen before a Farmhouse at Le Verrier from c. 1853 depicts a team of oxen standing before a farmhouse in the village of Le Verrier—a subject that combines Decamps's interest in animal painting with his observation of rural French life. The oil on wood panel format was one that Decamps favored for his smaller scenes because the smooth surface allowed the precise brushwork and rich color that distinguish his best work. The oxen are rendered with the anatomical precision and physical presence that make Decamps's animal paintings comparable to those of the Barbizon animal painters, while the farmhouse and landscape show his ability to place animals in a specific rural setting.

Decamps's rural scene paintings demonstrate that his realism was not limited to Orientalist subjects but extended to the observation of rural French life in all its specificity. Oxen before a Farmhouse at Le Verrier shows Decamps bringing the same vigorous realism to a French village that he brought to Middle Eastern bazaars and caravans—the oxen and the farmhouse rendered with the same anatomical precision and atmospheric truth.

Oxen before a Farmhouse at Le Verrier is Decamps bringing Orientalist realism to rural France: oxen and farmhouse rendered with the anatomical precision and atmospheric truth that he brought to Middle Eastern subjects. The oil on wood panel format allows the rich color and precise brushwork that distinguish Decamps's best small-scale work.