Camille Pissarro (1830-1903): Jalais Hill, Pointoise (1867) “This little valley, this hill have a heroic simplicity and forthrightness. Nothing would be more banal were it not so grand…” Émile Zola wrote of the manner in which Pissarro handled his rural subject matter… Indeed, the positive reception of the painting by critics and writers positioned Pissarro as an avant-garde painter in the second half of the nineteenth century…