Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
COROT
JILL NEWHOUSE
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
Unpublished Drawings
catalogue by
Amy Kurlander
expertise by
This catalogue accompanies an exhibition on view from June 5 to July 13, 2012
acknowledgements
I would like to thank everyone who has worked on this project. Martin Dieterle, my dear friend and mentor in the study of the work of Corot, has given me, and all of us in the art world, the great gift of his keen eye and generous spirit. A painter himself, he brings an instinctive accuracy to judgments of authenticity. His philosophical approach avoids preconception and is always open-minded. We have all learned greatly from him. Claire Lebeau has added her precision and her eye for nuance and detail, as well as her great patience in navigating the waters of authentication. Amy Kurlander wrote her doctoral dissertation on Corot and has added her scholarship to her deep understanding of Corots work. I would also like to acknowledge Dr. Margret Stuffmann and Dr. Dorit Schfer whose major exhibition on the paintings and drawings of Corot opens in Karlsruhe in October 2012. Their ideas were inspirational in the organization of this show. Christa Savino keeps the gallery running, and to her I am endlessly grateful. Megan Wiessner, also in the gallery, complied Corots chronology and handled the details of the loans. Bob Lorenzson has been the gallerys photographer and Larry Sunden has again organized the design and production of the catalogue. Paper conservation and condition reports were provided by Marjorie Shelley in particular, along with Alan Firkser and Alvarez Fine Art Services. Many of our colleagues have also been of great help and I would personally like to thank Patrick, Louis, Matthieu and Augustin de Bayser and Galerie de Bayser; Antoine Lorenceau, Galerie Brame et Lorenceau; Anisabelle and Florence Bers, Galerie Bers; Arturo and Corinne Cullar; Roy Davis and Cecily Langdale; Hubert Duchemin, and Robert Kashey, Shepherd Gallery. Lastly, numerous clients and friends of the gallery who have been kind enough to lend their drawings have asked to remain anonymous; my deepest gratitude to you all, without whom this exhibition would not have been possible. J.N.
Chronology
Compiled by Megan Wiessner
(For an extensive chronology, see Paris, Ottawa and New York 1996, pp. 409 ff.)
1796 181522
Born July 17 in Paris. After completing secondary studies in Rouen and Poissy, apprentices with cloth merchants in Paris. Becomes more interested in art, however, and begins taking drawing lessons. His parents purchase a country house in Ville dAvray. His future teacher Achille-Etna Michallon (17961822) wins the Grand Prix de Rome for historical landscape. His parents accept his decision to become an artist, and agree to provide a yearly income. Enters Michallons studio and spends the summer working outdoors at Fontainebleau, Saint-Cloud, and in Normandy before Michallons death in the fall. Joins the studio of landscape painter Jean-Victor Bertin (17671842) and works in Fontainebleau and Moret. Paints his rst historical landscape, Orphe charme les humains. Begins his rst voyage to Italy. Arrives in Rome in December, rents a room near the Piazza di Spagna, paints several views of the city and the Coliseum, and befriends other artists. Works along the Tiber and in the Farnese Gardens. Passes the greater part of the summer in the region of Civita Castellana; stays at Papigno in August and September. Returns to Rome in October. Journeys south of Rome to Lake Albano and Lake Nemi in November, and works in Tivoli in December. In Rome from January to April. Sends two paintings, Vue prise Narni (National Gallery of Canada, Ottowa) and Campagne de Rome (Kunsthaus, Zurich) to the Salon. Journeys include Lake Albano, Civitella, the Subiaco region, and Civitella Castellana. Returns to Rome in November, and works on large paintings intended for the Salon during the winter of 182728. After a visit to Naples in the spring, and brief stays in Venice and Switzerland, returns to Paris in October. Visits Normandy and, for the rst time, Brittany. Begins painting portraits of friends. Exhibits two Italian views at the Galerie Lebrun in Paris.
1817
1822
182324 1825
1826
1827
1828
1829
1830
Leaves Paris to escape the Revolution of 1830 and visits Chartres, Normandy, and the north of France. Frequents the forest of Fontainebleau, which he will continue to visit for the next two decades. Wins a second-class medal at the Salon for Vue de la fort de Fontainebleau (also called Le Gu, R II, no. 257). Visits Normandy twice and paints more portraits of family members. Begins his second voyage to Italy in May. Visits sites in northern Italy, including San Remo, Genoa, La Spezia, Pisa, Volterra, Florence, Venice, the lake country, and Milan. Returns to Paris in late autumn. Exhibits Agar dans le dsert (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) and Vue prise Riva, Tyrol italien (Bayerische Staatsgemldesammlungen, Munich) at the Salon. Un soir: paysage (J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu) one of Corots two Salon paintings, inspires verses by Thophile Gautier. Exhibits four paintings at the Salon, including Un moine (Muse du Louvre, Paris) and Le Petit Berger (La Cour dOr, Muses de Metz), which is bought by the State. The Salon jury accepts two works but rejects LIncendie de Sodome, resulting in a protest of fellow artists on his behalf. Makes his third and nal voyage to Italy between May and September, spending most of his time in or near Rome. Befriends Thodore Rousseau (18121867). Resubmits lIncendie de Sodome, which is accepted by the Salon jury unchanged but with a new title, Le Destruction de Sodome (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). Visits family and friends, and resides often at Ville dAvray. Enjoys a growing reputation and the admiration of Charles Baudelaire (18211867) and Thophile Thor (18071869) at the Salon. In September, the City of Paris awards him a commission to paint an altarpiece for the church of SaintNicolas-du-Chardonnay (Le Baptme du Christ, R. 466). Continues to travel, spending time in Fontainebleau, Versailles, and Ville dAvray. Named Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in July. Eugne Delacroix (17981863) visits his studio. Befriends the Arras-based painter and collector Constant Dutilleux (18071865), and passes most of the year at Ville dAvray in order to care for his dying father.
1833
1834
1835
1839
1840
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
184850
After the Salon jury is reformed, is repeatedly elected by his colleagues and begins to exhibit more paintings each year. The State purchases a number of these works, including Le Bain du Berger (Muse de la Chartreuse, Douai) and Le Christ au Jardin des Oliviers (Muse de Langres). Death of his mother. Begins to intensify his traveling and to regularly visit Dutilleux in Arras. At the home of Dutilleux, meets Alfred Robaut (18191909), Dutilleuxs future son-in-law and the future author of his catalogue raisonn. Befriends the painter Charles-Franois Daubigny (18171878). Begins to experiment with clich-verre with the Arras photographers Louis Grandguillaume and Adalbert Cuvelier (18121871), the inventors of the technique. Designs more than 60 plates over the course of the next twenty years. Travels to Belgium and the Netherlands with Dutilleux. Exhibits six paintings at the Exposition Universelle and receives a rst class medal. Emperor Napoleon III purchases Souvenir de Marcoussis (Muse dOrsay, Paris). Exhibits an extensively reworked version of his Salon painting of 1844, Le Destruction de Sodome, under its orginal title, lIncendie de Sodome, at the Salon. Places fty-eight paintings at auction through the appraiser Thirault. Travels include trips to Normandy and Troyes. Sends a number of ambitious compositions showing gures in the landscape to the Salon. His work is increasingly sought by collectors and dealers and admired by a new generation of open-air painters, many of whom he mentors. Travels to London for the Worlds Fair. Meets Gustave Courbet (18191877). Berthe Morisot becomes a student. Serves as a member of the jury at the Salon. Napolon III purchases Souvenir de Mortefontaine (Muse du Louvre, Paris). Stays in Auvers-sur-Oise, Mantes, Fontainebleau, and Normandy. Death of Dutilleux. Napoleon III purchases Solitude (Private Collection) for his private collection. Paintings by Corot are exhibited in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia.
1851
1852
1853
1854 1855
1857
1858
1859
1862
1864
1865
1866
1867
Exhibits seven important paintings at the Exposition Universelle, receives a medal there and is named an Ofcer of the Legion of Honor. Exhibitions in London and Munich. Cancels most travel plans due to poor health. Working in his studio during the siege of Paris in the Franco Prussian war, he paints Paris incendi par les allemands (location unknown). Travels and paints continuously, exhibiting both at the Salon and abroad. Dies of stomach cancer at age 79 on February 22. A posthumous sale of his studio and his collection is held in May and June of that year, as is a large retrospective at the cole des Beaux-Arts.
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1870
187274 1875
Corot as Draftsman
Amy Kurlander
Over one hundred thirty years after the artists death, it is not easy to characterize Corots particular achievements in drawing. Exhibitions of Corots drawings have been infrequent, especially outside France, and to our knowledge ours is the rst to be held in the United States. But the most interesting challenge to seeing Corots drawing as an oeuvre is that his objectives and strategies with pencil, pen, chalk and charcoal changed considerably over time. The artist who, in the 1820s, applied his classical training to dene and place the mountains surrounding Civitella (no. 4) began in the 1850s to use his powers of formal synthesis and imagination to create idyllic souvenirs such as Moonlit Landscape (no. 23) and Willow Grove (no. 29). His understanding of landscapeand the role of drawing in landscapehad become quite different. When Corot rst devoted himself to landscape in the early 1820s, he was aligning himself with an academic tradition which required that he work within a specic genre. The goal of a landscape painter was to produce a large composition, usually with gures, for the annual Salon in Paris. The most highly prized landscape painting was the paysage historique, with its references to Greco-Roman or Biblical narratives. The training undertaken by an aspiring landscape painter such as Corot included direct study of outdoor motifs, both in graphite and oil. Open-air study and sketching was a key part of the process of learning to see and paint, and would serve the artist in the studio as he conceived and executed these formal works to be submitted to the Salon jury. Certainly, the drawings from Corots rst Rome trip in 182528 (nos. 36) belong in this context of classical landscape training, which was further enriched by the artists interactions with the international colonies of young landscape painters in Rome. From Achille-Etna Michallon (17961822) and Jean-Victor Bertin (17671842) during his earliest years of study 182225, Corot learned to use hard graphite pencil to capture motifs with precise contours, as well as diagonal hatching to indicate shading. Corot frequently reinforced the graphite drawings of this era in ink and sometimes recopied his initial drawings entirely,
often using tracing paper as the support (no. 5). A graphite drawing was often the rst point of contact between Corot and the motif, although drawing was also part of a protracted process of observation, notation and revision, involving different media at different points in time. Some of the Rome drawings are preliminary studies for oil sketches, and may well have undergone further revision either when revisiting the motifwhich Corot frequently didor when returning to the studio. By the 1850s, ideas about ambitious art and the importance of landscape painting were hotly disputed. Changing audiences, venues, techniques, markets and, just as important, new ways of seeing and enjoying nature would continue to transform French landscape painting through Impressionism. Among the changes was the increasing primacy of outdoor study for artists like Corot, Thodore Rousseau (18121867), and Charles-Franois Daubigny (18171878). Painting and drawing landscape outdoors was no longer a step along the way to the nished work, but gained enormous practical and symbolic importance as the very motivation for landscape representation. This was a form of art that demanded a direct encounter between artist and nature, beholder and landscape. Established techniques of classical landscape seemed increasingly stiff, tired, and articial; but what methods of composing and modes of execution could capture nature more vividly, while having the weight and ambition of a complete, independent work of art? This generation of landscape painters offered various solutions at different times. One development that is easy for modern viewers to recognize, from a vantage point after Impressionism, was a looser handling of the brush and the instruments of drawing. Corot pushed this gestural, improvisational mode of execution further than his contemporaries, especially in drawing. The long, supple lines that indicate the direction of branches and tree trunks (nos. 18, 25, 26, 28); the briskly applied straighter lines that reinforce contours (nos. 19, 21); masses sometimes dened by smoothed, stumped passages of charcoal, sometimes through scribbling and scratching (nos. 23, 26) were not just techniques of execution. For Corots admirers, this repertory of mark-making comprised a coherent way of seeing and of seizing nature through the artists eye and hand.
Sketchbook folio, Muse du Louvre, Paris, RF 8708 47, folios 24v and 25r.
In addition, Corot placed immense importance throughout his career on the establishment of unity in landscape. During the rst trip to Rome, his progress in painting and drawing had much to do with an increasing ability to create an integrated image through the representation of light and shadow. Capturing relative values of light and dark served not only to distinguish one form from another, or to articulate dimension, but also to unify the image through the patterns and gradations of value across the eld (no. 6). Corot never forgot this lesson. As the decades progressed, as Corot simplied his compositions by concentrating their elements into a compressed space with a few large masses, he also relied on what he called a science of values as a guiding principle. As the artist noted in a sketchbook of around 1860: Le dessin est la premire chose chercherensuite les valeursles rapports des formes et des valeursvoil les points dappuiaprs la couleur, enn lexcution. (Drawing is the rst thing to pursuethen valuesthe relations between forms and valuesthese are the main pointsafterwards color, execution last.) Muse du Louvre, RF 8709, fol. 42 verso, cited in Srullaz 2007, p. 7. Before setting down these objectives in words, however, Corot had developed a remarkable symbolic language for recording the relative lights and darks of a given motif (see illustration on previous page; Muse du Louvre, Paris, RF 8708 47, folios 24v and 25r). In a number of sketches from the notebooks of the 1850s and 1860s, he would place a circle to mean light, a square to mean dark, and the relative size of circles and squares, if there were more than one, to indicate the relative depth of light and dark. A page from folio I in our sketchbook from the early 1860s shows Corot deploying this language in a casual notation. Sketches like these tell us that in the later years, Corots landscape was not just a gestural performance by the artist, but a particular mode of perception, one that began with the cognition and jotting down of a set of relationships already in naturethe principal lines (le dessin) and the relative values of a cohering motif. Although it is not until the later years that Corot produced many drawings as independent, signed compositions, either for sale or to offer as gifts, Corots gure studies often have a complete presence from an early date, as in his study
of a Roman peasant boy from around 1825 (no. 3). In the 1830s, Corots Salon paintings sometimes show him struggling with the task of integrating the gure in the landscape in a convincing wayhis critics often faulted him on this pointwhile other, more intimate kinds of gural representation, including portrait drawings and paintings of family and close friends, are among Corots most compelling works of this era (nos. 8, 11, 13). One issue for Corot was that he resisted treating the human body with the same kind of simplication and loose execution with which he handled landscape. One work on view, a study for the gures in La Toilette of the 1859 Salon (no. 21), is a rare example of a drawing study for a specic Salon painting of this period. The task of placing large gures in the landscape seems to have required more pointed, preliminary drawing work than usual. A reward of any monographic drawings exhibition is that it enlarges our view of the artists interests and occupations. There is much to be discovered in Corots drawings from the 1830s and 1840s, a period in which the artists efforts to develop a public style of landscape painting for the Salon and for ofcial commissions were not always entirely successful. Other kinds of challenges take shape in outdoor painting and drawing during these years, particularly in the course of Corots study in the forest of Fontainebleau and his travels throughout France. There are ne, varied examples of Corots outdoor work in Normandy (nos. 7, 12, 17) and two very different kinds of studies made in the forest (nos. 9, 15). For this viewer, the drawing of Paris from an elevated vantage point (no. 10)an attempt to revisit the lessons learned on the hills of Rome and take them in a different directionwas a most unexpected discovery, as was the fascinating architectural study of St.-Germain-en-Laye (no. 16). The organizers of the exhibition join me in inviting viewers to make their own discoveries about Corot the artist and Corot the draftsman. Just as we know and value more than one Corot, we will continue to discover the unknown Corot through continued curiosity about the many objectives, themes, and media that comprise this rich oeuvre.
C ATA L O G U E
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faites la hate, pour saisir la Nature sur le fait (quick rough sketches, to seize Nature in action. p. 404). This work, however, makes the most of the tools of drawing. Corot has used hard and soft pencil, different thickness of line and a wide variety of gestural marks to add graphic variety to an already lively sketch.
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Civitella, 1827
Pen and ink on paper 9 1478 inches (24.8 37.8 cm) Inscribed lower right: Civitella Estate sale stamp lower left: Lugt 460a p r o v e na n ce Corot sale 1875; Collection Richard Goetz; Paris Art Market; Jill Newhouse Gallery (2010). e x h i b i t i on s Paris, Galerie Hector Brame, June 14July 5, 1957, no. 28; Berne, Kunstmuseum, Corot, January 23March 13, 1960, no. 100. l i t e r at u re R IV, no. 2586. Private collection This drawing dates from Corots rst sojourn in Rome, a critical period in the painters technical and aesthetic development as a landscape painter. It was during this trip that Corot undertook a systematic study of outdoor landscape drawing and oil sketching that was rooted in the techniques and teachings of the French school of classical landscape. Lengthy excursions to famous sites in the Roman countryside were a key part of this training, and the journeys would follow paths that travelers and artists had been making for centuries. One of these well-known sites was the spectacularly rugged landscape surrounding the hill town of Civitella, which was part of a circuit of travel into the mountains east of Rome. Corot embarked on this journey in the spring of 1827, arriving at the ancient town of Olevano in April and the environs of Civitella in July. Corots other known drawings of this site rely more on incidents of trees and foliage to x the landscapes topography and indicate depth, light and shade (Vue de Civitella, c. 1827, Muse du Louvre, Paris, RF 8983). There are fewer such incidents in the present drawing, whose precisely Vue de Civitella, c. 1827, Muse du Louvre, Paris, RF drawn contours and subtle indications of light and shadow create a lucid, 8983 complete view using deceptively simple means.
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It was typical for Corot to use calque as a drawing support during this period. Robaut documents other drawings on calque from the rst Roman sojourn including a panoramic view of Castello SantAngelo (R IV, no. 2479) and a view of Olevano (R IV, no. 2568).
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above: Chantier Naval Honeur, c. 1823, Private Collection left: Quai dun port de pche, c. 1830, Muse du Louvre, Paris
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owned a millinery shop on the Rue du Bac and would have sat for her portrait in the latest Parisian style. The present sheet probably dates from around the same time as the portrait of Madame Corot. Corot was devoted to his family, with whom he had a complex relationship. A lifelong bachelor who received a yearly allowance from his parents until their death, Corot was already 55 when his mother died, at which point he and his sister inherited the property at Ville dAvray. It seems his parents exercised a good deal of inuence over his comings and goings. Interestingly, there is no evidence that either his mother or father were particularly interested in their sons paintings or were aware of his growing stature as an artist. Robaut reports that when Corot was awarded the Legion of Honor in 1846, his father initially thought the cross was meant for himself. When assured that the honor had in fact been bestowed upon his ftyyear-old son, he wondered if it might be tting to increase his allowance.
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Courvoisier-Vosion, Pre Lachaise from the Gothic Chapel, c. 1815, Bibliothque des Arts Dcoratifs, Paris Vincent Van Gogh, Guinguette Montmartre, 1886, Muse dOrsay, Paris
The inclusion of important, relatively large gures in this drawing, the use of color, and the carefully elaborated spatial relationships point to a date in the 1830s. During this period, Corot approached the outdoor study in both oil and graphite with greater pictorial ambition. Figures became more common, elements were placed with increasing deliberation, and relationships between the fore-, mid-, and background became increasingly dynamic and effective.
The Forum from the Farnese Gardens, c. 1829, Muse du Louvre, Paris
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above: Verso: Study of a Kneeling Woman left: Head of a Sleeping Girl, c. 1830s, Courtauld Institute, London
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The Banks of the Seine at Rouen, View from the Grand Cours, 1833
Graphite on paper 518 7 inches (13 19 cm) Inscribed bottom right: Lundi 19 aot/ endroit de lexercice des conscrits et des voyous Signed on the mount lower right: Alfred Robaut Inscribed and dated by an unknown hand on the mount lower left: . . . . (illeg) 1861 Private Collection, Rouen Corot recorded this view of Rouen from a well-known promenade called the Grand Cours or Cours de la Reine. Tourist guides from the 1820s and 1830s describe the promenades lush alleys of elms, depicted at left, the steamboats in the Seine, the clusters of houses and commercial buildings, and the elegant spire and towers of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Rouen. The drawing is related to a painting that Corot exhibited at the 1834 Salon. Submitted under the title Une marine, the painting is also known as Les Quais Marchands de Rouen (The Merchants Quays at Rouen, Muse des Beaux Arts, Rouen). In a letter of February 26, 1833, Corot described this work as a depiction of the Rouen quays: jai mis en train une marine rouennaise. Cest sur une toile de cinq pieds et demi, cest compos de petits navires, deux fabriques chaumires et de fonds. Si Ruysdael et Van de Velde voulaient maider, cela ne me nuirait pas. (Ive started a Rouen seascape. Its on a canvas of ve and a half feet, its composed of small ships, two cottage factories, and a background. If Ruysdael and Van de Velde wanted to help me, that wouldnt hurt.) (Paris, Ottowa and New York, p. 111). In the 1820s and 1830s Corot made several trips to Normandy, travelling, drawing, and painting in the region around Rouen and sometimes further aeld. He would stay with the Sennegons, who lived in the village of Bois-Guillame just outside the city. In 1833 he visited Normandy twice. Corots correspondence places him at the Sennegons at Bois-Guillame in
Les Quais Marchands de Rouen, 1834, Muse des Beaux Arts, Rouen
January and February and in various locations in Normandy in July and August. A letter of August 11 was written from Granville, on the channel coast, and the present drawing dates from just over a week later. Corot would have had to pass through Rouen on his way back to Paris, and the city may have been his last stopover on this particular journey. Corots reference to the 17th century Dutch masters is evident in the composition, tonality and focus of the Salon painting. In addition, the painting emphasizes the commercial activity of the Rouen quays, while our drawing is a more a topographical portrait. In this regard, and in its fresh, spontaneous character as a study drawn on site, the sheet is also related to a panoramic view of Rouen that Corot painted between 1829 and 1834 (Rouen Seen from the Hills Overlooking the City, R II, no. 236, The Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford). The panoramic study takes it point of view from a road in the hills, southeast of the spot where Corot sketched the drawing.
Rouen Seen from the Hills Overlooking the City, c. 18291834, The Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford
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Louvre, Paris, RF 1609), and even more closely related to a group of paintings of seated, reading monks in a white habits which are believed to date from the 1850s and 1860s (Monk in White, Seated, Reading, Muse du Louvre, Paris, RF 2604; Seated Monk Reading, R III, no. 1332, Bhrle Collection, Zurich; Monk in White, Reading, Private collection, New York, in Paris, Ottowa and New York 1996, gs. 104a and 104b, p. 244).
Seated Monk Reading, 1865, R III, no. 1332, Bhrle Collection, Zurich
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garden designer, Andr Le Ntre (16131700). It was Le Ntres alleys of trees and geometric parterres, and the views of the gardens and the Seine valley from raised terraces, that attracted visitors during the era in which Corot made this drawing. The chteau itself was used as a military penitentiary at the time. Corots drawing places the viewer in the ideal position from which to apprehend the gardens as originally intended by its designers: on axis and from an elevated viewpoint. Mansarts pavilions were removed during the Second Empire, sometime after 1862, when the faade was extensively restoredput back somewhat ruthlessly, in the words of Anthony Bluntto its appearance under Franois I (Anthony Blunt, Art and Architecture in France 15001700, New Haven, p. 53). The post-1862 faade, with rounded turrets rather than polygonal pavilions, greets Saint-Germain-enLayes visitors today. As with many large-scale demolition and restoration projects undertaken during the Second Empire, the reworking of the faade at Saint-Germainen-Laye was recorded by photographer Charles Marville (18161878/9). One of the prints (Muse dArchologie nationale at Saint-Germain-en-Laye) offers a last look at Mansarts north-east pavilion, and an oblique view of Le Ntres stately prospect of trees, alleys, and distant terrace.
Charles Marville, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, North-East Pavilion, c. 1862, Muse dArchologie nationale at SaintGermain-en-Laye
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Honeur: Calvary on the Cte de Grace, 1830, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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unpublished Carnet no. 56 (no illustration available) contains a study and perhaps a summary sketch related to the evolving composition of 1857. Interestingly, Robaut documents another charcoal drawing, Nymph Disarming Love (R IV, 2885, p. 65, illus.) as also having been executed for Dutilleux in Arras in around 1857. The latter, like the present drawing, is a souvenir of one of Corots 1857 Salon paintings (Nymph Disarming Love, Muse dOrsay). Corots visits to Arras in both 1856 and 1857 are documented, and it is possible that Robaut, who rst met Corot in 1852, witnessed the creation of these drawings.
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sketches for the painting are now in the Louvre (RF 18701/08728) and the Muse Carnavalet (DO 3593). Corot sketched the composition of La Toilette, alongside a sketch of his other Salon painting of 1859, Dante and Virgil, in a letter to the painter douard Brandon on November 27, 1858 (Robaut I, p. 192, illus.). The sketch shows the gures in the same positions as the nal painting, which would suggest a date no later than 1858 for the present sheet. A charcoal ricordo after the completed painting, which Corot made for his friend and protg Dutilleux, is now in the Louvre (RF 8817).
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number of dealers and collectors who sought them out. One such collector was the art critic Arsne Houssaye, who purchased several half-length studies by Corot during the artists lifetime and at the posthumous studio sale. Interestingly enough, Houssaye was also the author of a monograph on Leonardo which was published in 1869. He presented Corot with an inscribed copy of this book, whose description of the drawing we know as Isabella dEste (the sitter had yet to be identied) appears on page 481.
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and expanding its foliage at the bank of a lake or streamwith the tree serving as a repoussoir for a view to a bank in the distancedates back to a graphite and ink drawing of around 1826 (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), one of the masterly studies that Corot executed at Civita Castellana, in the environs of Rome during his rst trip to Italy. About twenty years later, an oil painting, Bords du Lac de Nemi (Philadelphia Museum of Art), established the spatial disposition of the compositions main elements and pushed into the foreground, to great effect, the multi-trunked, gestural branches of the magnicent tree. Robaut dates this painting 184345, directly following Corots third and nal trip to Italy, where he spent a great deal of time in and around the town of Genzano and Lake Nemi.
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Landscape with Pond, Trees and Cottages, Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Chapel Hill
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Landscape, c. 1870s
Charcoal, stumping on buff paper 978 11 inches (25.0 30.0 cm) Signed lower left p r o v e na n ce Paris Art Market; Jill Newhouse Gallery (2009). Private Collection Two lush groups of trees and two gures form the rhyming focus of this late landscape drawing by Corot. The sheet can be instructively compared to a charcoal drawing in the Louvre that Robaut dated 18712, Cluster of Tress with a Goatherd (RF 8815). Both works, executed on buff paper of roughly the same size, demonstrate Corots mastery of a charcoal and stump technique that he developed toward the end of his life. Using the charcoal to create boldly gestural, calligraphic lines and varying densities of line and tone, he would apply the blending stump to subtly merge the edges of the landscape elements and spatial registers into an image unied by subtle shifts in values. Arlette Srullaz has described Cluster of Trees with Goatherd as a ne example of the scenes drawn in charcoal by Corot towards the end of his life, whereby combining dark and velvety accents, gently reworked with the stump, he was able to create landscapes whose outlines merge in a melancholy twilight atmosphere (Srullaz, 2007, p.80). Corot produced similar, tonally-driven effects in many of the paintings of this last phase of his life. The sophisticated tonal structure of these works was of particular interest to the group of painters and photographers from Arras who comprised Corots second family in his later years: Robaut and Desavary, the rst owner of Cluster of Trees with Goatherd.
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Pere Santilari
Bonnard, Roussel, Vuillard Drawings from the Collection of Curtis O. Baer Wolf Kahn:Early Drawings Graham Nickson: Italian Skies
Recent Watercolors and Early Oil Paintings
copyright 2012 jill newhouse llc photography by robert lorenzson design by lawrence sunden, inc.