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Expert Painting Advice From a Master Artist
Indispensable guidance from Camille Corot
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot was one of the great French artists of the 19th century. Celebrated in his own time as a painter of large, nostalgic landscape works, it was his smaller outdoor studies that would command the attention of later artists.
As Claude Monet wrote, “There is only one master here — Corot. We are nothing compared to him, nothing.”
Born in Paris in 1796, Corot was a keen traveller. From his late-20s, he made several trips to Italy to develop his technique and study ancient art, spending time in Rome and Naples. At other times he journeyed to the south of France.
During these excursions he roamed the countryside, painting ancient aqueducts and crumbling temples under the blue skies of Italy and Provence, resulting in some of the most delicate and beautiful images of his career.
Corot filled numerous sketchbooks with his drawings and observations. The following notes are from Corot’s notebooks dating from after the painter’s first visit to Italy in 1825.
