Unknown_Corot-2012

11 . Little Girl Asleep , c. 1830–35

Verso: Study of a Kneeling Woman Graphite on paper 7 ½ x 6 ½ inches ( 19 x 16 . 5 cm)

This disarmingly direct and spontaneous study of a sleeping child belongs to a period in which Corot, following his return from Italy, drew and painted a number of portraits of family and close friends. The young girl in our drawing may be a member of Corot’s sister’s family. Annette-Octavie Sennegon had seven children, four of them girls, whom provided Corot with some of his favorite subjects. The child’s physiognomy strongly resembles that of a finished drawing of a sleeping little girl now in London ( Head of a Sleeping Girl , Courtauld Institute, 1952 .RW. 3136 ). In both drawings, the figure boldly fills the sheet. The most careful mode of rendering is reserved for the face. The contours are decisive and the shading that frames the face, and hand, in our work, consists of frank, diagonal hatching.

As Germain Bazin has written, Corot’s depictions of children often adopt a style that aims to capture the supposed innocence of his subject. In this sheet, details such as the awkward angle of the arm and the unbroken, curving contour line that connects the bonnet to the arm exemplify this kind of deliberate naïvete.

above: Verso: Study of a Kneeling Woman left: Head of a Sleeping Girl , c. 1830 s, Courtauld Institute, London