Landscape with a Mountain Village and a Steam Engine in the Distance

Born in Paris, Eustache was a landscape artist who traveled extensively. He visited the Far East with his teacher Prosper Marilhat, made two trips to Egypt, and moved frequently within France. Many of his images relate to these journeys, ranging from Egyptian temples to the Normandy coast. While Eustache exhibited at the Salon several times around 1850, his work is often singular in style, not adhering to academic standards, which scholars have attributed partly to his regular use of hashish. He was experimental in technique and medium, creating small- and large-scale works and alternating among oil paint, pastel, and charcoal. This sweeping landscape is unusual in Eustache's oeuvre as it contains evidence of modern life visible in the train emerging from the mountains. It may have been created during his stay in the Nivernais region in central France, where his in-laws owned a forge and foundry and where he became interested in depicting mechanical forms.