I'm getting old and it was 17 years ago, but I believe it was a country setting on land looking towards either a lake or some sort of water way with a cottage/country house on the same shore the viewer is standing on, on the left hand side of the painting.
I believe that the photo realistic quality I mentioned was a function of the lack of visible brush strokes and relative to all the works I had seen up until that point. Keep in mind that the professor was following the chapter sequence of our text book which started with "Venus of Willendorf, c. 28,000-25,000 B.C." and was chronological ending with modern art.
Thanks to both of you for taking the time to respond.
Does that ring a bell, or does anyone else have any ideas?
TIA