Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Prince Paul Demidoff (commissioned for his dining room in 1865, and sold, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Vente P. Demidoff, February 3, 1868, lot 12)
Durand-Ruel and Brame, Paris (acquired from the above sale)
M. Mosler
Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the above in January 1872)
Fremyn collection, Paris (and sold, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Vente M. Liebig et M. Fremyn, April 8, 1875, lot 10)
Auguste Breysse, Paris (as of 1875)
Daniel Cottier, Cottier and Co., London (before 1877)
James S. Inglis, Cottier and Co., New York (1893-1908)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acquired from the above, and sold, Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, May 28, 1981, lot 65)
Private collection (acquired from the above sale)

Vienna, Welt-Ausstellung, June 1873, no. 154
Paris, École des Beaux-Arts, Exposition de l’oeuvre de Corot, May 1875, no. 51 (as Le Sommeil de Vénus)
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Landscape Paintings, May 14 – September 30, 1934, no. 37
Paris, Musée de l’Orangerie, Corot, 1936, no. 85
Lyon, Musée de Lyon, Exposition Corot, May 24 – June 28, 1936, no. 87

Henri Dumesnil, Corot, souvenirs intimes, Paris, 1875, p. 68
Alfred Robaut, “Corot, peintures décoratives,” L’Art, XXXI, 1882, pp. 46-7
John W. Mollett, The Painters of Barbizon: Corot, Daubigny, Dupré, London, 1890, p. 108
David C. Thomson, The Barbizon School: Corot, Rousseau, Diaz, Millet, Daubigny, Etc., London, 1891, p. 44, 141
Georges Lanoë and Tristan Brice, Histoire de l’école française de paysage (depuis le Poussin jusqu’à Millet), Paris, 1901, p. 258
Alfred Robaut, L’Oeuvre de Corot, Paris, 1905, vol. I, pp. 224-5; vol. III, p. 142, no. 1633; also cited under p. 140, no. 1631; vol. IV, cited under p. 77, no. 2979; illustrated vol. III, p. 141, 143
Walther Gensel, Corot und Troyon, 1906, p. 34, 37, illustrated fig. 25
August F. Jaccaci, “The Sleep of Diana by Corot,” Bulletin of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. IV, no. 2, February, 1909, p. 17, 27, illustrated
August F. Jaccaci, “Figure Pieces of Corot in America: I,” Art in America, vol. I, 1913, p. 88
Étienne Moreau-Nélaton, Corot, raconté par lui-même, Paris, 1924, vol. II, pp. 17-8, illustrated fig. 196
Bryson Burroughs, “A painting by Corot Restored,” Metropolitan Museum Studies, 1929, vol. II, pp. 60-4
Julius Meier-Graefe, Corot, Berlin, 1930, p. 66
Stanislas Giraud, Gustave Ricard, sa vie et son oeuvre (1823-1873), Paris, 1932, p. 229, 239
Paul Durand-Ruel, “Mémoires,” in L. Venturi, Les Archives de l’Impressionisme, Paris, 1939, vol. II, p. 167
Germain Bazin, Corot, Paris, 1942, p. 106 [2^nd ed., 1951, p. 112; 3^rd ed., 1973, p. 270]
Daniel Baud-Bovy, Corot, Geneva, 1957, p. 136
Rome, Palazzo Venezia, Il Disegno francese, da Fouquet à Toulouse-Lautrec, 1959-1960, p. 95, cited under no. 136
Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger, French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. II, XIX Century, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1966, pp. 62-3, illustrated
Roseline Bacou, Maîtres du blanc et noir au XIXe siècle, de Prud’hon à Redon, Musée du Louvre, Paris, Cabinet des Dessins, 1968, pp. 15-6
Roseline Bacou, Maitres du blanc et noir au XIXe siècle: dessins du Musée du Louvre, Rennes, Musée, 1972, pp. 19-20
Pierre Miquel, Le Paysage Français au XIXe siècle, 1824-1874, L’École de la nature, Paris, 1975, vol. II, p. 47, 387; vol. III, pp. 476-7
Hommage à Corot: peintures et dessins des collections Françaises, exh. cat., Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris, 1975, cited under no. 164, p. 161
James Thompson and Barbara Wright, La Vie et l’oeuvre d’Eugène Fromentin, Paris, 1987, pp. 228, 249
Michael Clarke, Corot and the Art of Landscape, New York, 1991, note 20, p. 88
Corot, exh. cat., City Art Gallery, Manchester, 1991, cited under no. 50, p. 67
Corot, exh. cat., Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 1996, cited under no. 128, p. 368; cited under “1865”, p. 32
Corot, exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1996-1997, cited under no. 128, p. 306; cited under “1865”, p. 416
Vincent Pomarède, Corot, Paris, 1996, p. 241
“Am Römerholz,” The Secret Armoire: Corot’s Figure Paintings and the World of Reading, exh. cat., Oskar Reinhart Collection, Winterthur, 2011, cited in “Biography” by V. Pomarède, p. 172

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This work has been restored. The canvas has a good lining and the paint layer is stable. The varnish is slightly dull in areas, but it is not necessarily recommended that the surface of the work be revisited prior to hanging. Under ultraviolet light, it can be seen that there has been some thinness and possibly abrasion to the paint layer that have received retouches. There are also retouches addressing some cracking, a series of horizontal losses in the center of the dark trees in the center left, and further losses in the upper portion of the large dark tree in the upper center. There appears to be a repaired horizontal damage in the center of the sky on the left side, which runs about 6 inches. A series of cracks running vertically from the putti upwards into the sky have also been reduced with retouching. The figure of Diana is thinly painted and may have become slightly abraded over time. While there has been some restoration and abrasion, the work has been nicely understood by the restorer and looks well.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

The present work and its pendant, Orphée salue la lumière (Robaut 1634; Elvehjem Museum of Art, Madison, Wisconsin), once formed part of a suite of eight paintings by Corot, Jules Dupré, Eugène Fromentin and Théodore Rousseau that were originally intended to decorate the dining room of the Paris residence of Prince Paul Demidoff. The commission was issued in January 1865, and each artist was to provide two paintings of similar size and related subject matter, evoking hours of the day. While Corot’s painting of Orpheus was to symbolize the dawn, the present work depicts the coming of night.

Corot began the Orpheus and Sommeil de Diane in earnest in July of 1865, working in the Fontainebleau studio of his friend Philippe Comairas. During a short holiday later that month at Arras, he made charcoal drawings of each of the two compositions from memory. Both sheets are dated July 10 and are preserved in the Département des Arts Graphiques of the Louvre (Robaut 2978 and 2979). In realizing the finished works, Corot also produced one small oil sketch for each of the two compositions (Robaut 1632, 1631 respectively), as well as a study drawing for the two putti (see Robaut, vol. I, p. 259, for an illustration).

The paintings for the Demidoff dining room appear to have been well-received, but tragic circumstances led to their dispersal. The Prince’s wife died in childbirth in 1868 and, grief-stricken, Demidoff decided to abandon his Paris residence and resettle at the family palace of San Donato, just outside Florence. His collection, including Le Sommeil de Diane, was sold in two widely-attended sales. Presumably after that event Corot slightly reworked his composition, mainly in the area of shrubbery at left, as well as the painting’s date so that it now reads 1868 (the last digit “5” still visible). Corot’s changes can be detected by comparing the present work with the Louvre’s charcoal drawing and the photograph of the picture in its original state (Robaut, vol. III, p. 413, fig. A)