Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Soufflot Collection, Paris
Herman Schaus, New York
Lowell M. Palmer, New York (and sold, American Art Association, New York, February 25-26, 1920, lot 125)
Scott & Fowles, New York
Mrs. Francis Neilson, New York (and sold, Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, May 15, 1946, lot 107, illustrated)
Property from the Estate of Dr. Ruth Morris Bakwin (and sold, Sotheby's, New York, November 3, 1985, lot 31, illustrated)
Acquired by 1999

New York, Wildenstein & Co., The Dr. and Mrs. Harvey Bakwin Collection, 1967, no. 10

Alfred Robaut, L'oeuvre de Corot, catalogue raisonné et illustré, Paris, 1965, vol. III, p. 40, no. 1358, illustrated p. 41

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This work is in very good condition. The canvas has a glue lining. The paint layer is stable. There is no abrasion or weakness to the paint layer at all. No retouches are visible to the naked eye or under ultraviolet light. The varnish is not as saturating as it should be and could be replaced.
"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."

Located southeast of Paris, verdant Montgeron was a respite for many of the city’s bourgeois. In the 1870s, Impressionists such as Édouard Manet, Gustave Caillebotte, and Claude Monet captured the peaceful landscape, often centered around department store owner and patron Ernest Hoschedé’s château.  A decade earlier, Corot visited Montgeron on invitation of his friend M. Soufflot, and the tranquility of the area is evocatively captured by the artist’s brushy application of paint, which makes up the lush grasses and wispy willows, with heavier applications of cool blue pigment, recreating the stillness of the pond receding into the background.  As with many of his compositions, the present work was likely painted en plein air, though Robaut suggests it was later reworked in the artist’s studio.  It was only then that Soufflot acquired the work, not wanting to offend his guest by offering to buy it during his visit.  Following the present work, Corot gave  Montgeron-Mare avec une vache et une paysanne portant un seau to Soufflot (R. 1359).  Nearly a century later Montgeron-Saulaie au bord de l’eau was included in the collection of Dr. Ruth Morris Bakwin who, together with her husband Dr. Harry Bakwin, made important advancements in pediatric medicine.  Dr. Ruth Morris Bakwin’s parents made their fortune in the Chicago meat-packing business which, in part, allowed the Bakwins the opportunity to build a significant collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist works soon after their marriage in 1925.