Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Mantes Rostand

Thence by descent (sale: Osenat, Fontainebleau, 12 February 2012, lot 60)

Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Martin Dieterle and Claire Lebeau, Corot, Sixième supplement à ‘L'oeuvre de Corot’ by A. Robaut et Moreau-Nélaton, Paris, 2018, no. 75, p. 74, illustrated 

Painted circa 1860-65. It is his freely painted, breezy landscapes like this one that epitomise Corot’s plein air style, and that established his reputation as a forerunner of the Impressionists, who by their own account were deeply influenced by his work. The short brushstrokes give the painting a scintillating movement, in contrast to Corot’s earlier, classicizing landscapes. The immediacy of the observed light, the cloudscape, and tonalities are abundantly evident.