Galerie Dreyfus
17
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JEAN-BAPTISTE CAMILLE COROT (PARIS, 1796 – PARIS, 1875)
Morn…
See original version (French)
17
-
JEAN-BAPTISTE CAMILLE COROT (PARIS, 1796 – PARIS, 1875)
Morn…
See original version (French)
Estimate €80,000 - €100,000
Voluntary lot
Description
JEAN-BAPTISTE CAMILLE COROT
(PARIS, 1796 – PARIS, 1875)
Morning, under the trees
1850 – 1860
Oil on canvas
55.5 x 42 cm.
Signed lower left
Painted in collaboration with Achille François Oudinot
Certificate: Martin Dieterle and Claire Lebeau.
Provenance
From the artist to Grédelue, Paris; Eugène Leroy, Paris (1893); Bernheim-jeune, Paris; Émile Favrot,
Paris (1895); Durand-Ruel, Paris, private collection;
Sale: ‘19th Century European Paintings and Sculptures’, New York, Sotheby’s, 23 May 1997, lot 13.
Sinuous yet slender, the delicate silhouettes of these young trees seem to be imbued
with a life of their own. Their widely spaced trunks eventually converge in their
entwined branches. Their slender, light-coloured branches stand out against the dark foliage and
form a strange calligraphic pattern, like lines hastily sketched so as not to
let an idea or an impression slip away. Their conversation echoes the more discreet one
being held by two figures seated in the shade, in the background. One can barely
make out their silhouettes – a mother and her child? – silhouetted against the light, against
a low wall. Beyond this, the space opens out towards a pale, diffuse, bluish distance, where
a mountain can be made out on the horizon. Here, the painter immerses us in an intimate
and nostalgic atmosphere, the secret of which is his own. By arranging the planes, Corot carefully crafts his effects. Isolated by
a foreground pierced by sunlight, the figures are relegated to the shadows and thus kept at
a distance, as if to protect them from any intrusion. The openness of the background lends
an ethereal quality to the composition, causing the sky to ‘descend’ through the foliage
down to the figures. The warm, restrained colour palette alternates between dark greens
and yellow ochres against an airy grey-green background. Here one senses the warmth of a summer’s day
beginning to settle in. This *Morning, under the Trees* belongs to his later period, when his brushwork became
lighter and less concerned with rendering reality. The title refers to a time of day
rather than a specific place and invites us, above all, to experience an
overall impression … Corot, who enjoyed painting alongside his pupils, produced this work with
the assistance of his pupil Oudinot.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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