Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Marquis de Verpillière (by 1905); thence by descent
Private collection, USA
Sale: Christie's, New York, 19 April 2006, lot 80

Alfred Robaut, L'Oeuvre de Corot: catalogue raisonné et illustré, Paris, 1905, vol. II, p. 232, no. 677, catalogued, p. 233, illustrated

The canvas has not been lined and is securely attached to its wooden stretcher. There is a fine pattern of hairline craquelure throughout, however not distracting. Ultra-violet light reveals scattered small spots of cosmetic retouching in the sky and a small area of strengthening in the woman in the foreground. The picture is otherwise in good condition and ready to hang. Presented in a decorative gilt frame. Colours are somewhat less red than in the catalogue illustration.
"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."

'There you have the greatest genius of the century, the greatest landscape artist who had ever lived. He was called a poet. What a misnomer! He was a naturalist. I have studied ceaselessly without ever being able to approach his art. I have often gone to the places where he painted: Venice, La Rochelle, ah what trouble they have given me! The towers of La Rochelle - he got the colour of the stones exactly, and I could never do it.'
(Pierre-Auguste Renoir to René Gimpel in 1918 on Corot's La Rochelle studies)

Painted in 1851, in contrast to Corot's later souvenirs - silvery poetic reminiscences of a particular place distilled into a picture - the present work is very much set in time and place and, if not painted in the open air, at least based on a plein air sketch made on the spot. The immediacy of the observed light and tonalities is abundantly evident.

During the summer of 1851 Corot travelled extensively through northern France, visiting Arras, Brittany, and Normandy. In July he arrived in La Rochelle where he spent three weeks painting with his friends Brizard and Comairas. He returned to Paris with one painting, Vue du port de La Rochelle (Yale University Art Gallery), and several oil studies, all painted out of doors, and the basis for L'Abreuvoir. The group of oils painted in or inspired by La Rochelle is considered to be among the most impressionistic in Corot's oeuvre.

Indeed it was works such as the present one that prompted young painters, Berthe Morisot among them, to elicit Corot's instruction and approval. Pissaro described himself as a pupil of Corot in the Salon brochures as a measure of respect, and others did the same. Corot was adopted by the proponents of the New Painting; Émile Zola, Théodore Duret, and Edmond Duranty, the key writers on the new school, considered Corot a progenitor of Impressionism. And indeed at one point or another in the course of the 1860s, Monet, Renoir, and Sisley each experimented with some of Corot's techniques.