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Lot Essay
"Ville d'Avray is where he rejoins his beloved goddess, nature" (M. Lafargue, Corot, 1925, p. 23).
Painted at the height of his career, Ville d'Avray is a lyrically painted impression of the town where Corot's parents had owned a small country house since 1817 (fig. 2). One of Corot's first depictions of Ville d'Avray was painted in 1825 (R. 33) and thereafter the town featured in his oeuvre throughout his career. The silvery grey light and the feathery trees are an anticipation of the artist's souvenirs executed some ten years later. In particular, the painting of the same subject in the National Gallery in Washington, dating from circa 1865-70 (fig. 1), is close in the rendition of the architecture, the figures and the play with light.
Charles Perrier observed that 'Corot borrows from nature only its effects and, so to speak, the moral impression the view makes on us. Thus the painter himself only rarely gives his paintings the name "landscape". He calls them "impression of morning", "twilight", "an evening", "remembrance", all things that bear no relation to the conscientious reproduction of material objects ... What he is aiming for is not the tangible form but the idea'. (Exh. cat., Corot, New York, Oct. 1996-Jan. 1997, p. 236.)
Martin Dieterle has kindly confirmed the authenticity of this work.
Painted at the height of his career, Ville d'Avray is a lyrically painted impression of the town where Corot's parents had owned a small country house since 1817 (fig. 2). One of Corot's first depictions of Ville d'Avray was painted in 1825 (R. 33) and thereafter the town featured in his oeuvre throughout his career. The silvery grey light and the feathery trees are an anticipation of the artist's souvenirs executed some ten years later. In particular, the painting of the same subject in the National Gallery in Washington, dating from circa 1865-70 (fig. 1), is close in the rendition of the architecture, the figures and the play with light.
Charles Perrier observed that 'Corot borrows from nature only its effects and, so to speak, the moral impression the view makes on us. Thus the painter himself only rarely gives his paintings the name "landscape". He calls them "impression of morning", "twilight", "an evening", "remembrance", all things that bear no relation to the conscientious reproduction of material objects ... What he is aiming for is not the tangible form but the idea'. (Exh. cat., Corot, New York, Oct. 1996-Jan. 1997, p. 236.)
Martin Dieterle has kindly confirmed the authenticity of this work.