Unknown_Corot-2012

6 . Trees Among Rocks, with Italian Figures , c. 1827

Graphite on paper 11 ¼ x 4 ½ inches ( 28 . 5 x 37 cm) Estate sale stamp lower left: Lugt 460 a

provenance Corot sale 1875 , purchased by Henri Rouart; Thence by descent; Maurice Gobin (by 1938 ); Sale, Piasa, Paris, March 31 , 2000 . exhi b i t ions Paris, Galerie Maurice Gobin, Corot, 1938 , no. 9 ; Paris, Musée du Louvre, Hommage à Corot , 1975 , no. 128 (illus.). l i terature R IV, 2526 , p. 17 (illus.); Maurice Gobin, L’art expressif au XIXe siècle français , Paris, 1960 (illus.); Musée du Louvre, Hommage à Corot , 1975 , p. 140 (illus.).

Private Collection

Studies done in Rome testify to the great variety of topographical motifs and pictorial problems that Corot addressed as part of his training in classical landscape. Here, thick masses of trees emerge from large rock formations viewed up close, a challenge Corot tackled in other drawings of the Roman countryside from around the same date ( Forest Landscape , c. 1826–27 , Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, inv. no. 2419 r). In both works, the artist has taken care to emphasize key lines of tree trunks and branches in order to structure the entangled

elements of the motif. Yet the drawings are essentially studies of light and shade. In this sheet especially, rhythms of light and dark, deployed skillfully across the sheet, animate and unify the image. Corot was moved to further “complete” the drawing with tiny figures at the bottom left.

Forest Landscape, c. 1826–27 , Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna