Gustave Courbet was an avowed realist, painting mainly nudes, portraits and landscapes. An enthusiastic sportsman, he began to specialize in forest and hunting scenes during the late 1850s. <I>Deer in the Forest&ly;/I>, displays the forthrightness typical of Courbet's mature style. This painting once belonged to James J. Hill (1838-1916), the Minnesota railroad magnate whose collection of European paintings forms the basis of the Institute's nineteenth-century holdings.