Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796–1875) was a pivotal figure in 19th-century French painting, whose work bridged the Neoclassical landscape tradition and the innovations of Impressionism. Born in Paris to a bourgeois family, Corot began his artistic training relatively late, initially working in his father’s textile business before committing to painting in his mid-twenties. He studied under landscape painters Achille-Etna Michallon and Jean-Victor Bertin, drawing on the classical ideals of Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain.

Early in his career, Corot travelled extensively in Italy, producing luminous studies of the Roman countryside that would shape his lifelong approach to landscape. These early paintings were rooted in topographical accuracy and compositional clarity, but as his career progressed, his work became increasingly atmospheric and poetic. His use of soft, silvery light, subtle tonal harmonies and delicate brushwork gave rise to the so-called ‘Corot touch’, and profoundly influenced the next generation of artists, including the Barbizon painters and the young Impressionists.

Though best known for his landscapes, Corot also produced a significant body of figure paintings, especially in the latter part of his life. These quiet, introspective works — often depicting women in contemplative poses — were rarely exhibited during his lifetime but are now seen as precursors to modernist figuration.

Widely admired in his later years, Corot supported many younger artists and became a key figure in the transition from academic tradition to modern sensibility. His works are held in major collections worldwide, including the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.