Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

M. Faure (sale: Hôtel Drouot, Vente Faure, Paris, 7 June 1873, lot 5, illustrated in the sale catalogue)
Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris (by 1873)
Galerie Georges Petit, Paris (by 21 February 1892)
Boussod, Valadon et Cie., Paris
H.J. van Wisselingh, The Hague (by 14 September 1897)
Van Eghen, Amsterdam (by 1897)
Arnold et Tripp (by 18 October 1907)
Robert von Mendelssohn, Berlin (by 5 March 1908); thence by descent (sale: Parke-Bernet, New York, 13 February 1958, lot 84)
Private Collection, Florida (purchased at the above sale); sale: Sotheby's, New York, 24 February 1988, lot 21
Sale: Christie's, New York, 26 October 2005, lot 228
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Paris, Palais Galliera, Exposition organisée au profit du monument du centenaire de Corot, 1895, no. 21
Munich, Moderne Galerie Thannhäuser, 1927

Alfred Robaut, L'Œuvre de Corot: catalogue raisonné et Illustré, Paris, 1905, vol. III, p. 356, no. 2307, catalogued; p. 357, illustrated

The canvas has been relined. Under ultraviolet light the varnish fluoresces an opaque green over much of the composition, obscuring a clear reading of the surface, however some scattered spots of retouching are visible: notably in the right flank of the rider wearing the red hat, an approximately one by six centimetre stroke in the cliffs in the upper right, some spots above the signature, scattered spots in the background to the left of the other rider, and a handful of spots in the upper left quadrant of the composition. These are minor for a painting of this size. The overall appearance of the painting is good and it is ready to hang. Held in a decorative dark gilt frame. The catalogue illustration is slightly brighter than the painting in reality, and the colours in the work itself are deeper and less of a rich yellow overall.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Painted circa 1871-72, Les Contrebandiers (The Smugglers) depicts two mounted riders herding a group of young horses through a verdant gorge. In the foreground, a pond reflects the stormy sky above.

Corot's lyrical landscapes were part of his self-confessed retreat from the external world. He expressed his lack of sympathy for much that was going on around him in artistic circles in a remark to Millet's biographer, Alfred Sensier, in 1857: ' This is for me a new world which I no longer recognise; I am too attached to the past...If you understand what I am saying, I want to make a new art for myself.' (quoted in Etienne Moreau-Nélaton, Histoire de Corot et ses oeuvres, Paris, 1905, p. 180).

This escapism accords perfectly with Corot's paintings of the 1860s and 1870s, be they his Salon pictures or the innumerable smaller works he also produced for an increasingly enthusiastic public. Corot was not alone in producing such ethereal visions of nature and in the 1860s there developed a considerable school of pastoral landscape painting in France, particularly in the environs of Paris, which had suffered from what some perceived to be its dehumanisation on account of the pulling down of the old quartiers and construction of the grands boulevards under Baron Haussmann.

Yet at the same time works such as the present one were as modern in their execution as they were escapist in their subject. Corot's observation of light based on sketches made en plein air, and his ability to capture an impression of the moment, make him an important precursor of what Edmond Duranty in 1876 termed 'The New Painting', in other words Impressionism, the roots of which, he claimed, 'lie in the work of the great Corot and his disciple Chintreuil' (E. Duranty, La Nouvelle Peinture - A propos du groupe d'artistes qui expose dans les galeries Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1876, quoted in Les écrivains devant l'impressionisme, Paris, 1989, p. 118).