Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Studio of the artist (until 1873)

W.M. Brady & Co., New York

Private Collection, New York

Sotheby’s, New York, 3 November 1999, lot 28 (consigned by the above)

Acquired from the above by the present owner

Alfred Robaut, L'Oeuvre de Corot: catalogue raisonné et illustré, vol. II, Paris 1905, p. 9, no. 8, illustrated

Michael Pantazzi, Vincent Pomarède and Gary Tinterow, Corot: The Making of an Artist, exh. cat., New York 1996, p. 13 footnote 42 and p. 15 footnote 61

According to Martin Dieterle this work was probably painted in 1822 before Corot’s first trip to Italy and during one of his stays in the forest of Fontainebleau in the company of several fellow artists, including Achille Michallon (1796–1822), his first teacher. The composition feels quite modern to contemporary viewers who may recognize a precursor to the brand of realism championed by Gustave Courbet and even the sinuous landscapes of Thomas Hart Benton.