Camille Corot

Camille Corot, Fontainebleau Oak Trees at Bas-Bréau, c1832

Rather than focus on one artwork, I thought I would just share with you some of the gentle landscapes for which Camille Corot is so well admired. These realist (nature) works had a strong influence on the Impressionists who were to follow.

Camille Corot grew up in a middle-class family in Rouen, France, where he was a draper’s apprentice. From the age of 26 he pursued a career as an artist, taking painting lessons from A.E. Michallon and Victor Bertin, who ran a school for landscape painting.

In the autumn of 1825 Corot travelled to Rome to study the masters of the Italian Renaissance, but spent most of his time around Rome and in the Italian countryside. He considered that the three years that he spent in Italy were the most influential of his life, and he returned in 1834 and 1843.

Back in France, Corot constantly travelled in the warmer months, sketching and making preparatory studies, before returning to his studio to paint in winter.

He approached his landscapes in a traditional manner. His palette was restrained and dominated by browns and blacks, together with dark and silvery green. Although at times his brushstrokes appeared to be rapid and spontaneous, they were usually controlled and careful. His compositions were well planned and generally rendered as simply and concisely as possible, heightening the poetic effect of the imagery. As he stated, “I noticed that everything that was done correctly on the first attempt was more true, and the forms more beautiful.” With an instinctive sense of arrangement, and drawing on the lessons of his former teachers, Corot gave his works a seemingly natural harmony and balance, responding to the light and atmosphere of the views he painted.

From 1831 he held regular and successful exhibitions in Paris. He understood that to be noticed on the crowded walls of the Salon he needed to work on an impressive scale and include interesting subject matter into his foregrounds. Using his sketches and studies from Italy and around Barbizon near the Fontainebleau Forest he composed landscapes of increasingly large size, enlivening their foregrounds with rustic genre motifs. His first success came at the Salon of 1833, where his Vue de la forêt de Fontainebleau won a silver medal.

From the 1850s Corot’s style drew greater admiration from his fellow artists. His work from this time on fell into three main categories: private studies from nature of landscape or of the human figure; more academic historical compositions destined for the Salon; and composed landscapes in hazily atmospheric settings destined for sale – for which there developed a strong demand. He called these landscape souvenirs and paysages, dreamy imagined paintings of remembered locations from earlier visits painted with lightly and loosely dabbed strokes. It is these works in particular which have endured as a legacy.

Camille Corot, View of the Forest of Fontainebleau, 1830

Camile Corot, Boatman of Mortefontaine, 1865-70

Camille Corot, Scene on the Saone River at Macon, 1834

Camille Corot River with a Distant Tower 1865 — Camille Corot, River with a Distant Tower, 1865

Camille Corot, The Sin-le-Noble Road near Douai, 1873

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot Young Girl Reading c1868

Young Girl Reading by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot is, I think, a beautiful example of a Realist painting from the 1800s.

Until the end of the 19th century the term Realism meant observing the world in its natural form. It was a representation of the external world as it was actually seen and experienced.

The Realists were responding to the political and social upheaval in Europe in the early part of the century. They rejected what they perceived to be the artificiality of both Classicism and Romanticism. Instead they presented a non-escapist, democratic and empirical view of life as it existed around them, far removed from the heroic and idealised paintings such as Liberty Leading the People by Eugéne Delacroix.

They painted ordinary people leading their everyday lives, conscientiously reproducing what had been largely ignored aspects of contemporary life and society. In particular they focused on the physical settings, material circumstance and living conditions of the middle and lower classes, which until this time were not seen as worthy subjects for academic art. Landscapes were also popular subjects.

The natural world was seen as a place of worship by poets and artists alike. However, realist pictures of working men and women going about their business could be distinctly ordinary. Many viewers criticised such pictures as lacking in poetry and imagination, while other critics applauded them as having a more democratic form of art in keeping with the times.

Although realistic paintings were not characterised by a single style, they were often infused with a robustness and energy conveyed through bold lines, strong tonal contrasts, broad handling of paint and a sombre palette.

Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier, for example, was interested in faithfully reproducing heroic scenes, such as major battles, in minute detail. He also had a particular interest in both the 17th and 18th Centuries, so many of his genre paintings were of people from that time.

Gustave Courbet, on the other hand, was as an avant-garde painter, who wanted to represent ordinary people living ordinary lives, without the sense of the heroic or of romanticism. As might be expected, this approach led to a great deal of criticism, as it was not considered ‘high art’.

Jean François Millet also sought to represent rural life and rural workers, but can be viewed as making more of a political or social comment about the injustice towards the poor at the time.

Although Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot painted a number of portraits, he is largely remembered for his landscapes. He was particularly influenced by the realist Barbizon School in France which had a strong focus on tonal qualities, colour, loose brushwork, and softness of form. His style influenced the Impressionists who followed.

In my next few blogs I will discuss works by each of these artists.

This blog is just a short excerpt from my art history e-course, Introduction to Modern European Art which is designed for adult learners and students of art history.

This interactive program covers the period from Romanticism right through to Abstract Art, with sections on the Bauhaus and School of Paris, key Paris exhibitions, both favourite and less well known artists and their work, and information about colour theory and key art terms. Lots of interesting stories, videos and opportunities to undertake exercises throughout the program.

If you’d like to see some of the Australian artwork you’ll find in my gallery, scroll down to the bottom of the page. You’ll also find many French works on paper and beautiful fashion plates from the early 1900s by visiting the gallery.