Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Private Collection, France
Acquired from the above (circa 1992)
Property from the Huguette Berès Collection (and sold, Sotheby's, New York, November 8, 2007, lot 105, illustrated)
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Pierre Dieterle, Martin Dieterle, Claire Lebeau, Corot, Cinquième Supplément à l'Oeuvre de Corot, Paris, 2002, p. 26, no. 23, illustrated p. 27

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This charming painting is on canvas adhered to a card, which seems original to the artist. The paint layer appears to be clean and varnished. There are two small retouches in the lower right in the edge of the sleeve. There do not seem to be any other retouches, except for on the extreme edge at about 1 o'clock.
"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."

This charming portrait depicts Corot’s great-niece, Louise-Laure Baudot at the age of ten or twelve.  Corot had previously painted her mother, Laure Baudot, née Sennegon, in 1831, when she was sixteen (fig. 1). Laure was married two years later and died in childbirth when her daughter was born; our portrait would therefore date to 1844. After her mother’s death,  Louise-Laure was raised by her grandmother, who was also Corot’s sister.  According to Martin Dieterle, Corot became a constant presence in her life, offering not only emotional support but also providing her dowry when she married in 1858 (Dieterle, p. 26).

Corot’s portraits of the Sennegon sisters from the 1830s (see: Robaut nos. 246-249 and 251) represent some of his most individualized and beautiful female images. While Corot’s first trip to Italy in the 1820s introduced him to a new landscape and terrain, it also exposed him to the inhabitants of the countryside, who provided subjects for his figure studies.  When he returned to France, his new found interest in depicting the human form prompted a series of portraits, which included the Sennegon sisters.  Corot could now claim to be not only a landscape painter but also a figure painter, or as Moreau-Nélaton commented “tout à fait peintre” (a full-fledged painter) (Étienne Moreau-Nélaton, Corot: Raconté par lui-même, Paris, 1924, vol. I, p. 27). 

Corot’s portrait of the young Louise-Laure Baudot is in the tradition of the early Sennegon portraits.  The little girl is set against a plain background, and is stylishly dressed.  Here, she wears a pleated grey and black dress, trimmed with a white muslin “Peter Pan” collar, and a black ribbon-bow.  She is clearly the direct descendant, not only by birth, but also by style, of her mother and aunts painted the previous decade.