Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot's hazy landscapes and poetic mythological scenes signify a significant transitional period in French painting. This transition spanned from the academic Neoclassicism of the early 19th century to the avant-garde developments of later decades. Although Corot was not directly associated with movements like Realism or Impressionism, his lyrical expressiveness, focus on nature, and departure from sharp academic styles made him influential among late-19th-century artistic radicals. 

Biography of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot was born into a prosperous family in Paris and grew up surrounded by the bustling millinery business run by his parents. His mother's skill in hat-making earned her recognition among the city's elite, providing a comfortable and creatively stimulating environment for Corot's upbringing. 

Despite receiving a traditional education at the Collège du Rouen, Corot was described as a lackluster student, shy, and unremarkable by early biographers. At his father's urging, he apprenticed as a draper, following in his father's footsteps, but found the work uninspiring. Instead, he enrolled in evening drawing classes at the Académie Suisse. Initially hesitant about Corot pursuing painting as a career, his parents eventually relented, especially after the loss of their younger daughter. They even provided him with financial support, allowing him to focus on his artistic studies with some degree of independence.

In 1822, at the age of 26, Corot chose to join the studio of landscape painter Achille Etna Michallon, eschewing the academic environment of the École des Beaux-Arts. Unfortunately, Michallon's life was cut short just three months into Corot's apprenticeship, but his Neoclassical approach and his passion for nature deeply impacted Corot.

Corot then studied under Jean-Victor Bertin, a renowned historical landscape painter, continuing to draw inspiration from nature. During this period, he immersed himself in capturing the dynamic essence of nature, sketching along the Seine and in the forests near Paris, meticulously documenting landscapes and regional flora.

Following tradition, Corot embarked on his first of three trips to Italy in November 1825, a journey that proved to be highly productive. Italy's landscape, dotted with ruins, captivated him, leading to numerous oil sketches of iconic landmarks such as the Colosseum, Castel Sant'Angelo, and the Farnese Gardens. His painting "The Bridge at Narni" (1826-27) marked his successful debut at the Paris Salon in 1827, a venue where he would exhibit approximately 100 times.

Throughout his three-year stay in Italy, Corot completed over 150 works, honing his skills as a plein air painter and drawing inspiration from classical landscapists like Claude Lorrain. Upon his return to France in 1828, Corot displayed newfound resilience and commitment to his artistic career. He famously resolved never to marry, expressing his devotion to landscape painting.

After completing his first tour of Italy, Corot established a yearly routine: sketching outdoors during spring and summer, then retreating to his studio during winter to refine his work for the Salon, aiming to establish himself as a landscape artist. His journeys within France were as fruitful as those in the Mediterranean. 

Trips to Chartres, Ville d'Avray, and Normandy allowed Corot to explore diverse landscapes and refine his skills in light, composition, and tonality. A subsequent six-month journey to northern Italy elevated his style, blending Mediterranean settings with Neoclassical elements, as seen in "Hagar in the Wilderness" (1835), which incorporated literary and religious themes into natural scenes. Corot's historical landscapes of the 1830s resonated well with the Salon's tastes, earning him a reputation as a skilled painter of grand landscapes.

During the late 1830s and early 1840s, Corot experienced a gradual rise in prominence within the art world. While early critics were often reserved in their praise, notable figures like Edmond de Goncourt and poet Charles Baudelaire, who crowned Corot as the leader of the modern landscape school in his 1845 Salon review, provided significant exceptions. 

Subsequently, Corot became increasingly integrated into the Parisian art scene, with prestigious acquisitions by both the State and aristocrats enhancing his visibility. 

In 1851, Corot experienced the loss of his mother, just four years after his father's passing. Until his forties, he had relied on his parents' support, but with his mother's death, he moved out of the family home, establishing a new residence and studio in Paris. This change brought a renewed sense of freedom and mobility, prompting him to embark on extensive travels across France, Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland. He expanded his social circle to include more artists and critics, such as Barbizon painter Charles-François Daubigny. During the early 1950s, Corot also began informally teaching students, earning praise from pupils like Camille Pissarro.

In the last 15 years of his life, Corot experienced unprecedented critical and commercial success. Shifting his focus to literary themes, he created several large-scale figural compositions, including "Macbeth" (1858-59) and "Dante and Virgil" (1859), earning him the title of a 'poet' and his paintings being described as "reveries" and "musings on nature." Critics hailed this phase of Corot's work for its profound sensitivity to nature, with one declaring him not just a landscape painter, but the poet of landscape, embodying nature's sorrows and joys.

In the late 1860s, Corot faced health challenges that confined him to his studio, prompting him to explore another dimension of his artistic practice: figure painting. His figurative works showcase the breadth of his training and aesthetic sensibilities, blending techniques from Renaissance masters with the themes and emotions of literary romanticism. 

During the 1870s, the emergence of the Impressionist movement brought a shift in public perception towards Corot's work. While still admired and considered a precursor to the new style, his art began to be viewed as belonging to a bygone era, associated with the Third Republic. However, his paintings were nostalgically praised by younger artists as emblematic of a simpler time, and Corot himself acquired a grandfatherly reputation. This fondness from younger artists may have been influenced by Corot's role as an established member of the Salon jury, actively defending Impressionism throughout the 1860s-70s. 

Despite facing health issues, Corot remained creatively active until his death from a digestive disorder in 1875. 

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot's Art Style

Despite his academic background in Neoclassicism, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot's landscapes were celebrated for their anticipation of Impressionism's advancements. Characterized by soft color palettes and minimal tonal contrast, they often verged on monochrome, imparting a dreamlike quality. Corot aimed to capture his "first impression" of a landscape, a goal further pursued by artists like Claude Monet in later years.

Corot also played a role in the development of Realism, frequenting the Fontainebleau Forest from the late 1820s onward, where he befriended the Barbizon School painters. This group aimed to strip French landscape painting of its historical and mythological elements, focusing solely on nature with intense attentiveness. Inspired by this association, Corot's landscapes became increasingly naturalistic, imbued with emotive power that foreshadowed the works of Millet, Courbet, and others.

An early advocate of painting en plein air, Corot worked directly from nature, capturing his initial emotional response to a scene. This technique, later popularized by Impressionists like Monet, was also embraced by Corot's pupils such as Camille Pissarro and Berthe Morisot, who acknowledged Corot's influence in teaching them how to convey their own immediate reactions to nature.