Unknown_Corot-2012

27 . River Landscape , c. 1865–74

Charcoal, stumping, erasure on wove paper 14 5 ⁄ 8 × 20 1 ⁄ 8 inches ( 37 × 51 . 1 cm) Signed lower left

provenance Nathan Chiken, Lugano, c. 1960 ; Leonard and Lisa Baskin Collection; Thence by descent; Jill Newhouse Gallery ( 2007 ).

Private Collection

From the late 1860 s to early 1870 s, Corot executed a number of large, finished drawings in charcoal whose compositions repeat similar motifs. These are typically landscapes with low horizons, patches of river or lake in the fore- or mid-ground, and large trees with lush, indistinct masses of foliage dominating the sky. A few small, discreetly placed houses and figures and one or more cows further animate these gently bucolic scenes. Usually signed, the sheets were intended for eventual sale or reproduction and publication as lithographs through the efforts of Corot’s friends in Arras, Robaut and Charles Desavary ( 1837–1885 ). Examples of similar drawings, such as Bent Tree by the Water (Art Institute of Chicago, 1969 . 20 ) and Landscape with Pond, Trees and Cottages (Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology), reveal comparable techniques of stumping and erasure that contribute to Corot’s careful gradations of medium and tone. Edges and objects ‘dissolve’ into a misty atmosphere of soft grays and dappled light. Corot’s deft placement of scattered, short lines and dense dots of charcoal gently break the spell of the mist and enliven the surface with the artist’s touch.

Bent Tree by the Water, c. 1860 s, Art Institute of Chicago

Landscape with Pond, Trees and Cottages , Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Chapel Hill