Unknown_Corot-2012

21 . Study of Two Figures for “ La Toilette , ” c. 1858

Pen and brown ink, brown wash on paper 11 × 8 inches ( 27 . 9 × 20 . 3 cm) Estate sale stamp lower left: Lugt 460 a

provenance Corot sale 1875 ; Jill Newhouse Gallery ( 2005 ).

Private Collection

This pen-and ink study for the two figures in La Toilette, Corot’s superb Salon painting of 1859 (Private Collection), offers an interesting view of Corot’s process of composing a landscape with large figures. From the 1850 s, Corot rendered his landscapes in a loose, approximate manner, while his figures retained a strong sense of solidity and definition. His preparatory work for La Toilette , in which the landscape serves as a stage for the nude woman and the servant who helps her dress, attests to the challenges that Corot faced in tackling these themes. A graphite sketch from a notebook in a private collection shows the figures in the same position as the painting, with the bather seated to the right and her attendant standing at left. The present sheet documents an earlier idea for the painting while elaborating on the relationships between the figures and the landscape elements. Here, Corot establishes the vertical dynamics of the composition by posing the main figure, the nude, in a standing position, while the sinuous lines of the tree behind her echo and anchor her graceful form.

At this stage, Corot envisaged two minor figures in the landscape, which he resolved in the painting as a reader leaning against a smaller tree in the background. A few quick strokes of the brush and wash mark the pond at the edge of the foreground and join it to the contours of the bather’s body. While Corot’s charcoal drawings of this era emphasize tonal gradations, his work in pen and ink showcases his expressive use of line. The movement of the artist’s hand to paper— rhythmic, deliberate, and improvisational—lends a powerful sense of intention to this work.

In addition to the notebook study for the figures of La Toilette ( R IV, Carnet fol. 17 , recto), some brief notebook

La Toilette , 1859 , Private Collection