Although Jacque is primarily known as one of the most significant printmakers associated with the Barbizon school, he also produced several paintings of sublime beauty. This charming intimate work contains all of the elements of interest to the Barbizon circle of artists: A nocturnal landscape is imbued with the mystery of a celestial body whose light casts its reflection on water, illuminating the mysterious, meditative, and spiritual aspects of nature untainted by man. Recognized both as a painter and a printmaker, Jacque devoted much of his early career to providing illustrations for various books and journals. In 1849, he joined Jean-François Millet at Barbizon, recording views of the village and its environs. Although he continued to maintain a studio in his native Paris, he increasingly favored bucolic subjects, in particular, barnyard scenes and landscapes with grazing cattle. Lucas acquired prints by the artist as well as paintings. This haunting image records the planet Jupiter shining uncommonly bright in the night sky, an astral event which occurred in 1881. Why have Charles Jacque’s works such a powerful charm? It is because they always show us things or persons as they are in nature; because he studies them in the course of their usual life and avocations; and because this sincerity carries us without effort to the scene he chooses to represent. –René Ménard, The Portfolio, September, 1875