Unknown_Corot-2012

14 . Detail of a Doorway, The Grange of Madame Barbier, Villiers-le-See , c. 1830–35 Graphite on paper 6 ½ x 3 ¾ inches ( 15 . 9 x 9 . 5 cm) Estate sale stamp lower left: Lugt 460 a Inscribed in graphite lower center: Porte de la Grange de Madame Barbier/ à Villiers-le-See

provenance Corot sale 1875 ; Purchased from Julius Weitzner, 1961 .

Collection of Roy and Cecily Langdale Davis, New York

One of Corot’s occupations during his first trip to Italy was the study of architectural subjects. Among his brilliant oil sketches from that era are luminous studies of the monuments of the Roman forum and the Coliseum. Following this trip, Corot devoted further study to architectural monuments in the precise medium of graphite. The best known example is a drawing from 1830 of part of the west façade of Chartres Cathedral (Musée du Louvre, Paris, RF 23335 ) which served Corot in the execution of his famous painting, The Cathedral of Chartres ( 1830 , retouched 1872 , Musée du Louvre, Paris, RF 1614 ). Corot worked at Chartres in the company of an architect, Pierre-Achille Poirot ( 1797–1852 ), whom he had met in Tivoli in 1827 , and one wonders if Poirot accompanied Corot further on his travels during the summer of 1830 . Chartres was just the first stop on Corot’s 1830 travel itinerary, which began in July, prompted by the outbreak of Revolution in Paris. Corot continued north to Normandy and Picardy, and his Normandy stops may have included Villiers-le-See, also called Villiers-le-Sec, in the Calvados region. It is in the context of this journey that Robaut places a graphite study of Caen Cathedral and dates it c. 1830 (R IV, no. 2646 , illus. Robaut I, p. 54 ), an approximate date for the present sheet as well.