Friday, May 18, 2018

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot (in Edinburgh)

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
Ville d'Avray - Entrance to the Wood
ca. 1825
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
Man scything by a willow grove, Artois
ca. 1855-60
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
Souvenir of the environs of La Ferté sous Jouarre (morning)
ca. 1865-70
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland

"Corot spent much of his life without widespread appreciation by France's artistic establishment or the public.  Undeterred and blessed with an independent income, he pursued his own course: to preserve the freshness of his impressions of nature.  The impressionists, whom he later befriended, embraced this intention, but unlike them, Corot painted only sketches outdoors; he composed his finished paintings in the studio.  . . .  In the 1850s Corot began painting the silvery, feathery landscapes that brought him such popularity – and were frequently forged, even in his own lifetime.  Still later, for his own pleasure, he painted figures, which he seldom exhibited.  Kindly 'Père Corot' was universally beloved and generous.  He supported Jean-François Millet's widow and bought a house for the ailing, destitute Honoré Daumier."  

– curator's notes from the Getty Museum

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
Landscape with two cows
ca. 1864-75
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
Landscape at Coubron
ca. 1870-72
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
The Ruin
ca. 1865-70
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
The Goatherd
ca. 1872
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
The watering place
before 1875
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
Gathering primroses
before 1875
oil on panel
National Galleries of Scotland

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
Evening landscape
before 1875
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
Landscape with a small cottage
before 1875
etching
National Galleries of Scotland

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
Souvenir de Toscane
before 1875
etching
National Galleries of Scotland

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
Woman writing at a table
before 1875
drawing
National Galleries of Scotland

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
The Artist's Mother (Marie-Françoise Oberson)
ca. 1835-40
oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland

"Corot's mother Marie-Françoise was born in Switzerland.  Along with her husband Louis-Jacques Corot, she ran a milliner's shop in the Rue du Bac in Paris, where Corot and his sister were brought up.  The business was extremely successful and afforded the young Corot considerable financial independence when he decided to pursue a career as a painter.  Corot was devoted to his mother, referring to her as 'la belle dame'.  He later spent all his evenings with her when he was in Paris until her death in 1851 (aged 82).  Judging from her clothing and hairstyle in this picture, it was probably painted around 1835-40, when she would have been in her late sixties."

– curator's notes from the National Galleries of Scotland