Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

François-Parfait Robert, Mantes  
Dr. Lagarenne, Paris (1924)
Madame Vve Lagarenne, Paris (May 1962)
Thence by descent (1967)
Sale: Galliera, Ader-Solanet, March 16, 1972, no. B
Nathan, Zurich (1972)
Paul Rosenberg & Co., New York (1973)
Esther U. Johnson, New Jersey (acquired from the above in 1973)
Sayn-Wittgenstein Fine Art, New York (2001)
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2002

Alfred Robaut, L'Oeuvre de Corot, Catalogue raisonné et illustré, Paris, 1965, vol. II, p. 144, no. 401, illustrated p. 145
Gary Tinterow, Michael Pantazzi, Vincent Pomarède, Corot, exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, February 27, 1996-January 19, 1997, p. 388

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This painting is in lovely condition. The paint layer is clean and varnished. The canvas is unlined and does not need to be lined. There are no retouches that have been applied, except possibly to a crack or two between the tree trunks on the right, and there is no abrasion or discoloration to the paint layer. The painting should be hung as is.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Corot's paintings of Mantes, situated thirty miles west of Paris, are not as well-known as his early Italian views or his Ville d'Avray landscapes, however they formed an important part of his output beginning in the early 1840s which continued into the 1860s.

Our painting is considered Corot's earliest view of the Gothic cathedral in Mantes, visible beyond the bridge and through the trees.   While Alfred Robaut assigned a date of 1845, Corot included the old north portal of the church, which was demolished that year; therefore an earlier date would be more accurate (Rodolphe Walter, "Jean-Baptiste Corot et la cathedrale restaurée," Gazette des beaux-arts, 6^th ser., 67 (April 1966), pp. 217-28).  In fact, the first owner of our painting, François-Parfait Robert, was Corot's host during his visits to the town.  In 1842, Corot painted an elaborate decorative cycle for the bathroom in Robert's house (Robaut 435-440), and most likely our view of the bridge and cathedral was painted during that visit.  Additionally, the painting resembles Corot's works painted in the Morvan region in the early 1840s (Robaut 425-434).  This was a short lived, but very creative period for Corot. The Morvan works, as well as the present painting, are usually set in wide angles, and convey a sense of drama created through sharp contrasts of lights and darks.  The trees in the Morvan forests, as they do in our view of the Seine at Mantes, twist and turn and overlap.  The following commentary on a Morvan subject (Robaut 428) in the catalogue of the 1996 Corot retrospective, could just as aptly be applied to our view of Mantes, "The treatment of light, the invariably original compositions – occasionally in unusual wide formats – the inclusion of figures, and the overwhelming sense of a direct perception of nature place them among his [Corot's] most interesting creations." (G. Tinterow, M. Pantazzi and V. Pomarède, p. 190). 

Corot returned to Mantes on several occasions in the 1860s.  The view of the cathedral as seen through the trees still held an attraction, but his style had changed (fig.1).  The rugged directness of 1842 had been replaced by a mood of peace and contentment - the idyll - of Corot's later years.