Provenance:
• Posthumous sale of Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Paris, Drouot, 26 May 1875
• Sale of the collection of Count Armand Doria, Volume II, 8 May 1899, under no. 255
Bibliography:
• E. Moreau-Nélaton, Corot raconté par lui-même, 2 vols., Paris, 1924
• E. Moreau-Nélaton and A. Robaut, L’Œuvre de Corot par Alfred Robaut. Catalogue raisonné et illustré précédé de l’histoire de Corot et de ses œuvres par Étienne Moreau-Nélaton, ornée de dessins et croquis originaux du maître, 5 vols., Paris, 1905.
A prominent figure of the 19th century, Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot bridged the gap between English landscape tradition and French Impressionism. Yet, nothing initially destined him for an artistic career. Born into a well-to-do Parisian bourgeois family, his parents envisioned a future for him as a merchant. Driven by his passion, young Corot convinced them to grant him an allowance that enabled him to pursue his vocation.
Fascinated by the work of his contemporary Achille Etna Michallon (1796-1822), Corot began his training by accompanying him to paint en plein air. Following Michallon’s untimely death, Corot studied under Jean-Victor Bertin (1775-1842) and continued his outdoor practice.
By 1825, at the age of 29, Corot embarked on his first journey to Italy, where he encountered the new artistic spirit of the 19th century, a time when painters sought to break away from academic traditions. A perpetual traveler, Corot returned to Italy twice more. The extraordinary light he discovered there profoundly influenced his palette and sparked his enduring fascination with the creative power of light as a source of life.
Beyond his deep affinity with nature, Corot gradually developed an interest in portraiture, which became an essential part of his artistic practice. Whether nymphs, Italian women in traditional attire, dreamlike Oriental figures, or portraits of his close acquaintances, Corot was particularly drawn to the female form. The watercolour presented here is a rare preparatory study for an oil painting titled The Mandolin Player (ill. 1). This work belongs to the select group of Corot’s drawings considered as fully realised pieces. The lyrical theme of the mandolin, discovered in Italy, appears to have held a special place in Corot’s oeuvre, as he produced additional sketches and paintings on the subject (ill. 2, 3, and 4).
Around 1850, the probable date of this watercolour, Corot abandoned precise draughtsmanship in favour of exploring the interplay of light and shadow.
Always in search of new exercises from nature, Corot turned to watercolour, a technique of great modernity. Despite its apparent simplicity, watercolour requires considerable skill to harness its remarkable richness of effects.
"Seated, seen almost frontally and down to the thighs, a young woman plays the lute; she wears a garnet-coloured skirt, a black jacket, and a low-cut bodice. Her reddish-blonde hair is styled under a black hat trimmed with black velvet. Behind her, a blue sky. To the left, a pink curtain."
On a small sheet measuring no more than 15 centimetres in height, Corot demonstrates both boldness and energy. He sketches the contours of his figure in graphite before defining, with a few brushstrokes, the silhouette of a seated young woman holding a mandolin, set against a luminous sky treated with atmospheric perspective.
Created by mixing pigments with a vegetable gum known as gum arabic, watercolour can be diluted and applied in multiple translucent layers. Corot skilfully manipulates the paper’s natural reserve and varying shades of blue to evoke the vibrancy of light illuminating the background, while a harmonious blend of browns conveys the various fabrics of the model’s clothing and her instrument.
Although Corot never considered himself a draughtsman, he left behind more than 600 sketches and drawings at his death. In his pursuit of harmony and an ideal representation of nature, elevating landscape painting to the same status as portraiture, Corot paved the way for French Impressionism.
Among the many critics who recognised his creative genius, Baudelaire described Corot’s work as a "miracle of heart and mind."
M.O
