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Lot Essay
'This is not a landscape painter, this is the very poet of the landscape, who breathes the sadnesses and joys of nature. The bond, the great bond that makes us the brothers of rooks and trees, he sees it; his figures, as poetic as his forests, are not strangers to the woodland that surrounds them. He knows more than anyone, he has discovered all the customs of boughs and leaves; and now that he is sure he will not distort their inner life, he can dispense with all servile imitation.' (Theodore de Banville, 1861, pp. 235-36.)
During the 1860s and 70's, Corot's vehicle for these sentiments expressed by de Banville were the souvenir paintings, the remembrance of a particular place that the artist distilled into a picture. Often started as a plein air sketch, these souvenir paintings were then finished in the studio. Corot made his sentiments about the landscape visible by rendering the effect or the impression of a scene.
Saulaie à Saint Nicolas près d'Arras depicts a lone figure seated at the extreme right of the composition, nestled in a wood by a pond with a village in the far background. The painting is deftly divided into distinct fore, middle and backgrounds and the entire composition is bathed in a silvery light filtering through the trees in the foreground. The artist has captured the effect of light on various surfaces: the white flowers that dot the foreground, the shimmering surface of the water and the red roofs of the buildings in the far background. Through the light, he brings the entire composition into a cohesive whole, and fully captures the immediacy of the landscape.
This work has been examined and authenticated by Martin Dieterle.
During the 1860s and 70's, Corot's vehicle for these sentiments expressed by de Banville were the souvenir paintings, the remembrance of a particular place that the artist distilled into a picture. Often started as a plein air sketch, these souvenir paintings were then finished in the studio. Corot made his sentiments about the landscape visible by rendering the effect or the impression of a scene.
Saulaie à Saint Nicolas près d'Arras depicts a lone figure seated at the extreme right of the composition, nestled in a wood by a pond with a village in the far background. The painting is deftly divided into distinct fore, middle and backgrounds and the entire composition is bathed in a silvery light filtering through the trees in the foreground. The artist has captured the effect of light on various surfaces: the white flowers that dot the foreground, the shimmering surface of the water and the red roofs of the buildings in the far background. Through the light, he brings the entire composition into a cohesive whole, and fully captures the immediacy of the landscape.
This work has been examined and authenticated by Martin Dieterle.