Ville-d'Avray
1870
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
21 5/8 x 31 1/2 in. (54.9 x 80 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection, Bequest of Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, 1887
Accession Number
87.15.141
Tags
Art Historical Context
Camille Corot's *Ville-d'Avray* (1870), an oil on canvas measuring 21⅝ × 31½ inches, captures the serene beauty of the French countryside near Paris, where the artist maintained a beloved studio and home. Painted late in Corot's career—he would pass away just five years later—this work exemplifies his mastery of the Barbizon school's poetic landscapes, blending meticulous detail with atmospheric softness. As a precursor to Impressionism, Corot's subtle handling of light filtering through trees creates a dreamlike harmony between nature and human presence, evident in the tags highlighting women...
About the Artist
Camille Corot · 1796–1875
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, born in Paris on July 16, 1796, into a prosperous bourgeois family—his father a former wig maker turned draper, his mother a successful milliner—initially resisted his artistic calling. After a lackluster education at the Lycée Pierre-Corneille in Rouen and failed apprenticeships in business, he abandoned commerce at age 26, thanks to a generous parental allowance foll...