Pond at Ville-d'Avray

late 1860s

Jean Baptiste Camille Corot

(French, 1796–1875)

Culture

France, 19th century

Medium

oil on fabric

Measurements

Framed: 87 x 127 x 11 cm (34 1/4 x 50 x 4 5/16 in.); Unframed: 58.1 x 99.4 cm (22 7/8 x 39 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Collection 1944.80

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Location

220 19th Century European

Did You Know?

The dreamlike quality of the painting reflects Corot’s desire to reproduce the “first Impression” of the landscape.

Description

Corot painted this view of a pond near his home at Ville-d'Avray, just west of Paris, in his late style distinguished by soft, hazy forms and gentle, silvery light. Such paintings merge his lifelong study of nature with nostalgic memories and contrast sharply with the more formal compositions and precisely rendered shapes of his early landscapes. Corot's devotion to the direct study of nature was a major influence on the Impressionists.