JEAN-BAPTISTE-CAMILLE COROT | BATELIER ABORDANT À LA RIVE, LE SOIR

Theodore Leroy (and sold, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, May 13 1882, lot 5)

A. Marmontel (and sold, his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, March 28-29, 1898, lot 82)

M. Garcin (acquired from the above sale)

Hector Brame, Paris

Boussod, Valadon & Cie., Paris, no. 29805 (acquired from the above, January 1910, as Le pêcheur, soir)

Arthur Tooth & Sons, London (acquired from the above, September 1910)

Willis M. Sterrett, Baltimore

Schiller & Bodo, New York

Acquired from the above

Throughout his oeuvre, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot experimented with the lyrical shifts of light and shadow across the landscape during the day. Painted circa 1845-50, Batelier abordant à la Rive, Le Soir illustrates Corot’s sensitivity for color in its layers of silver greys, pale blues and purples — all evoking the setting sun across the water. The work’s rectilinear scale allows for both an expansive sweep across the lake and an intimate study of the boatmen at the end of his day.  The present work, with its subtle complexity, was an ideal selection for the collection of Antoine-François Mormontel (1816-1898), a renowned French musician and piano teacher whose pupils included Georges Bizet and Claude Debussy. Among the more than 200 works he composed, which influenced a generation of pianists, were, aptly, a series of nocturnes. Beyond his musicianship, Marmontel knew the dealer Hector Brame, who helped build his collection which included other works by Corot, Théodore Rousseau, and other artists of the era. After Marmontel’s death in 1898, the present work was offered, among other paintings, many which had a musical theme, at his Hôtel Drouot auction in 1898.