Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Private Collection, England (acquired by the family circa 1880)

Sale: Sotheby's London, 1 December 1999, lot 97, illustrated

Sale: Sotheby's New York, 24 April 2002, lot 24, illustrated

Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Pierre Dieterle, Martin Dieterle and Claire Lebeau, Corot, Cinquième Supplément à l’oeuvre de Corot par A. Robaut et Morau-Nélaton, Paris, 1905, Paris 2002, p. 80, no. 79 (catalogued) and p. 81 (illustrated)

Painted circa 1865-1870.

Corot's close observation of the light and atmosphere together with his colouring and expressive touch demonstrate his ability to produce an arresting composition from the simplest of subjects. Charles Baudelaire championed Corot stating 'He does astonish...but slowly; he does enchant - little by little, but you have to know how to penetrate into the science of his art, for with him there is no glaring brilliance, but everywhere an infallible strictness of harmony. More than that, he is one of the rare ones...who has retained a deep feeling for construction, who observes the proportional value of each detail within the whole... It might be said that for him all the light which floods the earth is everywhere dimmed by one or more degrees. His eye, which is keen and judicious, is more concerned with what establishes harmony than what emphasises contrast.' (Manchester, City Art Gallery, Corot, exh. cat. 1991, p.19).