Artwork
Portrait of a Young Girl
Portrait of a Young Girl is an oil painting by the Impressionist artist Jean Baptiste Camille Corot. It dates from 1850 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:lower left: COROT / [1850 or 1859]
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Portrait of a Young Girl is a portrait that depicts a young girl, as suggested by its title.
Portrait of a Young Girl is a portrait that depicts a young girl, as suggested by its title. The work is executed in oil on canvas and dates to 1850. It belongs to the portrait genre, which typically represents individual sitters, but the sources do not specify any additional iconographic attributes or symbolic meanings for this particular image.
Its meaning is therefore understood primarily through its function as a likeness of a youthful sitter, without further allegorical or symbolic interpretation provided in the documented record.
Technique & Style
The work is painted in oil on a canvas support in a vertical format measuring 25.2 cm in height and 21 cm in width. Corot’s handling emphasizes delicate, blended brushwork and soft transitions of tone, characteristic of his mature portrait style, to render the sitter’s facial features with quiet naturalism. The composition is restrained and closely cropped, focusing attention on the girl’s head and shoulders against a muted, atmospheric background that dissolves into generalized tones rather than descriptive detail.
History & Provenance
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot created the oil-on-canvas Portrait of a Young Girl in 1850. Its documented ownership begins with a sale at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris on 25 March 1922, where it was purchased by Frederick Manaud. It subsequently passed to Dr. Alfred Gold in Berlin before being sold in 1926 to the London dealer Alex Reid & Lefèvre.
The painting was acquired by Dr. Albert C. Barnes in 1927 and later traded to Etienne Bignou in Paris. Chester Dale purchased it in New York on 8 May 1930, and it entered the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., through his bequest in 1963. The work measures 25.2 by 21 cm.
Overview
Painted in 1850 by the French artist Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Portrait of a Young Girl is an oil on canvas work that exemplifies his approach to figure studies. While widely recognized for his landscapes, Corot also produced numerous portraits, often characterized by an intimate and understated quality. This particular painting captures a solitary young subject, rendered with a directness characteristic of the mid-19th century.
Context
Created during the Realist movement, Corot's Portrait of a Young Girl reflects a transitional period in 19th-century French art. Corot's practice often synthesized elements of Neo-Classical composition with a growing interest in direct observation and natural light, a method associated with plein-air painting. This blend positioned his work as a crucial link between established artistic conventions and the innovative approaches that would define later avant-garde movements.
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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.
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