Artwork
Landscape
Landscape is an oil painting by the Barbizon school artist Jean Baptiste Camille Corot. It dates from 1872 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:lower right: Corot
About this work
Technique & Style
The handling is consistent with Corot's late manner, employing oil paint on a relatively modest canvas support suited to the intimate landscape scale.
Landscape is an oil painting executed on canvas, measuring 41.91 by 57.15 cm. The work belongs to the genre of landscape painting and was produced in 1872. A dealer's stencil from Durand-Ruel in Paris remains present on the reverse of the canvas, documenting its early provenance.
The handling is consistent with Corot's late manner, employing oil paint on a relatively modest canvas support suited to the intimate landscape scale. While the sources confirm the medium and dimensions, they do not provide further detail on specific brushwork, layering, or surface condition.
History & Provenance
Landscape was painted by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot in 1872 in oil on canvas. The earliest documented owner is the Paris dealer Durand-Ruel, whose stencil remains on the reverse of the canvas. From Durand-Ruel the painting passed to Adolph Edward Borie (1809–1880) of Philadelphia, whose name appears in the 1907 Henry sale catalogue.
It subsequently entered the collection of Harry Samuel Henry in Philadelphia, and was offered at the American Art Association in New York on 25 January 1907 (lot 3, under the title The River). The work was then acquired by William A. Clark (1839–1925) of New York, who bequeathed it in April 1926 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington. In 2015 the Corcoran transferred the painting to the National Gallery of Art, where it remains today.
The painting is currently held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it was acquired in 2015 under the accession number 2015.143.9. Prior to this transfer, the work was part of the collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, having been bequeathed to that institution in April 1926 by William A. Clark. Clark originally obtained the piece from Harry Samuel Henry of Philadelphia, whose estate sold it at the American Art Association in New York on January 25, 1907, cataloged as The River.
Before reaching Henry, the work passed through the hands of Adolph Edward Borie in Philadelphia and was previously handled by the dealer Durand-Ruel in Paris.
Context
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot completed Landscape in 1872 as an oil on canvas work classified as a landscape painting. The piece entered the National Gallery of Art after a documented chain of ownership that began with the Paris dealer Durand‑Ruel and passed through collectors in Philadelphia before a bequest to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1926. Measured at 41.91 × 57.15 cm, the work is recorded in the National Gallery of Art’s collection and is cited in scholarly references on 19th‑century French landscape painting.
Overview
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot's Landscape, an oil on canvas created between 1870 and 1875, exemplifies the artist's late style. This painting presents a tranquil natural scene, characterized by its subdued colors and atmospheric quality. It reflects Corot's sustained interest in capturing the subtle nuances of light and the serene essence of rural environments, a theme he explored throughout his career, particularly in his later years.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (UK: KORR-oh, US: kə-ROH, kor-OH; French:; 16 July 1796 – 22 February 1875), or simply Camille Corot, was a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching.
