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Lot Essay
Théodore Duret best defined a key quality of Corot’s art in the 1860s when he noted that the painter fixed on canvas not only the visual spectacle before him, but also ‘the exact sensation of something he experienced’ (T. Duret, Les peintres français en 1867, Paris, 1867, p. 27). Théodore de Banville expressed this observation perfectly when he wrote, ‘This is not a landscape painter, the is the very poet of landscape…who breathes the sadness and joys of nature…The bond, the great bond that makes us the brothers of brooks and trees, he sees it; his figures, as poetic as his forests, are not strangers to the woodlands that surrounds them. He knows, more than anyone, he has discovered all the customs of boughs and leaves; and now that he is sure that he will not distort their inner life, he can dispense with all servile imitation (T. de Banville, ‘Le Salon de 1861’ Revue fantanstique 2, 1 July 1861, pp. 235-236).
Painted 1865-1870, Prairie au bord d’une rivière is an exquisite example by the master at the height of his powers. Corot captures perfectly one moment in time. The depth of the landscape is deftly created by the placement of the two figures working quietly in the foreground, while the cows grazing peacefully by the river running through the composition define the middle ground and the farm buildings perched upon the hilltop create the background of the painting. These elements all serve to draw the eye of the viewer gently through the landscape, creating the essence of the quiet French countryside on a hot afternoon. There is a serenity that pervades the composition and the viewer is invited into a world colored only by the light at the height of the day.
Painted 1865-1870, Prairie au bord d’une rivière is an exquisite example by the master at the height of his powers. Corot captures perfectly one moment in time. The depth of the landscape is deftly created by the placement of the two figures working quietly in the foreground, while the cows grazing peacefully by the river running through the composition define the middle ground and the farm buildings perched upon the hilltop create the background of the painting. These elements all serve to draw the eye of the viewer gently through the landscape, creating the essence of the quiet French countryside on a hot afternoon. There is a serenity that pervades the composition and the viewer is invited into a world colored only by the light at the height of the day.