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Lot Essay
The recent discovery of L'atelier de Corot constitutes an important addition to the oeuvre of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. Previously undocumented, the present work belongs to the renowned and extremely rare series of atelier paintings that rank among the most complex and thematically rich of Corot's entire production. Between 1865-70, Corot completed a total of six paintings entitled L'Atelier de Corot, all of which are inventive reworkings of the same subject - a solitary woman seated in the artist's own Paris studio in front of an easel contemplating a Corot landscape painting. Only one painting from this series remains in a private collection (Robaut, no. 1560). Other versions are housed in The National Gallery, Washington (no. 1558), The Louvre (no. 1559) the Musée d'Orsay, Paris (no. 1557), The Baltimore Museum of Art (no. 1559bis), and the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon (no. 1561). While an exact chronological dating of the versions remains a subject of ongoing debate, the present work is strongly thought to have been the esquisse preliminaire or initial study that laid the groundwork for these later versions.
Corot was at the pinnacle of his career when he painted the atelier series. Emporer Napoleon III had purchased Souvenir de Mortefontaine for the French state in 1864 and at the Exposition Universelle of 1867, he received a second medal as well as the Cross of Officer of the Legion of Honor, one of the highest forms of official recognition for a painter.
Curiously, despite the fact that Corot received no formal training in depicting the figure, he dedicated a significant part of his career to painting cabinet-sized figure paintings. It is safe to suggest that he regarded the atelier series as a more private artistic undertaking and was extremely reluctant to exhibit these works to the general public, preferring instead to keep them locked in an armoire in his studio. We learn from the artist's biographer Alfred Robaut that the artist felt obligated to keep these works under lock and key because "neither family nor friends would understand me." However, at the urging of his former student and friend, Constant Dutilleux who happened to catch a glimpse of some of the works, Corot began to show and sell them to a few select friends and dealers including Hector Brame and Gustave Tempelaere.
From a comparative point of view, each remarkable painting in the series offers certain compositional variants, from the presence or absence of certain motifs such as the mandolin, book and objects on display in the background to the obvious alteration in the pose of the sitter. A closer inspection, however, reveals that the present work is closest to the Baltimore version (fig. 1) and, in fact, Martin Dieterle proposes that the present work predates the Baltimore version which is characterized by more strongly defined line and brighter color. With respect to the other four documented versions, these two versions reveal a more sparsely decorated studio that implies they were conceived before more visually opulent versions. In only one version is the model engaging the viewer's attention, while in others, her face is either in profile or turned increasingly towards the easel. Dieterle also notes that the dog that appears in two documented versions of the painting may have been a taxidermied dog that Corot used as a model, lent to the artist by Charles Dieterle.
Corot's motivations behind the creation of this series of paintings remain the subject of much speculation. Depictions of artist's studios enjoyed a popular following as a genre unto itself, as they offered a glimpse into the mind of the artist. It has been suggested that the relatively simple studio and intimate interior scene belies the influence of seventeenth century Dutch interior genre painting on the artist, notably the light suffused paintings of Johannus Vermeer. Upon first inspection however, it is evident that the purpose of the painting is not to portray the sitter. The young girl whose gaze is completely focused on the painting becomes fused into her surroundings. On a visual level, the work seems to address the interaction of the model with the painting and it is this mysterious dialogue that lies at the heart of interpreting this work. In the Louvre and Washington versions, the model actually touches the canvas (fig. 2) a poetic touch, which further deepens the experience of looking at the landscape. Yet, on a deeper, more symbolic level these paintings can be understood as a continuing exploration of the relationship of art to life or possibly a musing on the close connection of painting to music and literature as alluded to by the presence of the mandolin and the book.
Martin Dieterle has examined and authenticated this work and will include this work in his forthcoming Corot catalogue raisonné supplement.
(fig. 1) Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, The Artist's Studio, 1866-1870, The Baltimore Museum of Art, The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland
(fig. 2) Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, The Artist's Studio, 1865-68, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, Widener Collection, Image (c) 2003 Board of Trustees. .
Corot was at the pinnacle of his career when he painted the atelier series. Emporer Napoleon III had purchased Souvenir de Mortefontaine for the French state in 1864 and at the Exposition Universelle of 1867, he received a second medal as well as the Cross of Officer of the Legion of Honor, one of the highest forms of official recognition for a painter.
Curiously, despite the fact that Corot received no formal training in depicting the figure, he dedicated a significant part of his career to painting cabinet-sized figure paintings. It is safe to suggest that he regarded the atelier series as a more private artistic undertaking and was extremely reluctant to exhibit these works to the general public, preferring instead to keep them locked in an armoire in his studio. We learn from the artist's biographer Alfred Robaut that the artist felt obligated to keep these works under lock and key because "neither family nor friends would understand me." However, at the urging of his former student and friend, Constant Dutilleux who happened to catch a glimpse of some of the works, Corot began to show and sell them to a few select friends and dealers including Hector Brame and Gustave Tempelaere.
From a comparative point of view, each remarkable painting in the series offers certain compositional variants, from the presence or absence of certain motifs such as the mandolin, book and objects on display in the background to the obvious alteration in the pose of the sitter. A closer inspection, however, reveals that the present work is closest to the Baltimore version (fig. 1) and, in fact, Martin Dieterle proposes that the present work predates the Baltimore version which is characterized by more strongly defined line and brighter color. With respect to the other four documented versions, these two versions reveal a more sparsely decorated studio that implies they were conceived before more visually opulent versions. In only one version is the model engaging the viewer's attention, while in others, her face is either in profile or turned increasingly towards the easel. Dieterle also notes that the dog that appears in two documented versions of the painting may have been a taxidermied dog that Corot used as a model, lent to the artist by Charles Dieterle.
Corot's motivations behind the creation of this series of paintings remain the subject of much speculation. Depictions of artist's studios enjoyed a popular following as a genre unto itself, as they offered a glimpse into the mind of the artist. It has been suggested that the relatively simple studio and intimate interior scene belies the influence of seventeenth century Dutch interior genre painting on the artist, notably the light suffused paintings of Johannus Vermeer. Upon first inspection however, it is evident that the purpose of the painting is not to portray the sitter. The young girl whose gaze is completely focused on the painting becomes fused into her surroundings. On a visual level, the work seems to address the interaction of the model with the painting and it is this mysterious dialogue that lies at the heart of interpreting this work. In the Louvre and Washington versions, the model actually touches the canvas (fig. 2) a poetic touch, which further deepens the experience of looking at the landscape. Yet, on a deeper, more symbolic level these paintings can be understood as a continuing exploration of the relationship of art to life or possibly a musing on the close connection of painting to music and literature as alluded to by the presence of the mandolin and the book.
Martin Dieterle has examined and authenticated this work and will include this work in his forthcoming Corot catalogue raisonné supplement.
(fig. 1) Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, The Artist's Studio, 1866-1870, The Baltimore Museum of Art, The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland
(fig. 2) Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, The Artist's Studio, 1865-68, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, Widener Collection, Image (c) 2003 Board of Trustees. .