Albany Fine Art : Biography of Jean-Baptiste-Camille COROT

Jean-Baptiste-Camille COROT

French, 1796–1875

Self Portrait, 1825
© Musée du Louvre, Paris

He single-handedly raised the art of landscape painting to the highest level of accomplishment in the hierarchy of painting and his ability to 'capture' light paved the way for the Impressionist movement

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot was born in Paris in 1796. He was a notably happy and popular child, being described as both charming and in constant good spirits. His parents ran a successful fashion shop in the Rue du Bac and his father hoped he would follow in his footsteps but, at the age of 11, during his secondary school studies in Rouen, it became clear that he had a talent for drawing.

Five years later, Corot left for Poissy where he studied for another two years, returning to Paris where he worked as an apprentice draper. However a chance viewing of a river landscape painting by the British artist Richard Parkes Bonington (British, 1802–1828) proved a turning point in Corot’s life and he determined to become a painter. Corot wrote, “I have only one goal in life, which I desire to pursue with constancy: that is to paint landscapes”.

In 1822 Corot made his first painting trip, visiting a family friend in Rouen, and also painting a number of scenes in Bois-Guillaume, Le Havre and Dieppe. His father considered painting a worthless occupation and it was only after this period, and much cajoling, that he finally agreed to provide his son with an allowance so that he could pursue his dream. Corot entered the atelier of Achille Etna Michallon (French, 1796-1822), a famous historical landscape painter, and then moved to study further under another landscape painter, Jean-Victor Bertin (French, 1767-1842).

Corot was an enthusiastic traveller and made visits to Italy, Switzerland and England as well as touring the countryside of France. He began his first journey to Italy in late 1825 and stayed until 1828. It was to prove inspirational. He sent his first entries to the Paris Salon from Rome: Vue Prise à Narni and La Cervara: Campagne de Rome, which was exhibited in 1827. He continued to exhibit regularly at the Paris Salon, the last occasion posthumously in 1875, with Souvenir du Lac Nemi and Danse Antique. In 1855 he exhibited six paintings at the Exposition Universelle (Universal Exhibition) and was awarded a first class medal and Napoléon III, Emperor of France, purchased his painting Souvenir de Marcoussis.

Corot was twice awarded a first place medal at the Paris Salon and received many honorary titles: Décoration des Fonts Baptismaux de Saint-Nicolas du Chardonnet (1846), Chevalier de la Legion d’honneur (1846) promoted to Officier (1867), and Jury Member of the Paris Salon (1848-49). Despite such public acclaim, he regarded the gold medal presented to him in 1874 in the name of French artists, as being the supreme homage to his life’s work - raising landscape painting to the highest level of accomplishment in the hierarchy of painting.

Corot was more than just a painter and produced many drawings, watercolours and glass prints. But it is as a painter that he is most famous. It has been suggested that his ability to capture expressive light effects within his paintings paved the way for the Impressionist movement. The Impressionists revered him and a number referred to themselves as his pupils, the best known being Camille Pissarro (French, 1831-1903), Eugène Boudin (French, 1824-1898), Berthe Morisot (French, 1841-1895), Stanislas Lépine (French, 1835-1892), Antoine Chintreuil (French, 1814-1873), François Louis Français (French, 1814-1897) and Alexandre DeFaux (French, 1826-1900).

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Corot was financially secure throughout his life and, with his paintings in great demand during his later years, he also earned large sums from his work. During his lifetime, Corot was famous both for his art and for his charity. In 1871, for example, when Paris was under siege from the Prussians, he gave a large sum for the poor of Paris; in 1872 he bought a house in Auvers as a gift for Honoré Daumier (French, 1808-1879) the printmaker, caricaturist, painter and sculptor who was by then blind, homeless and penniless: in 1875 he donated 10,000 francs to the widow of the painter Jean-François Millet (French, 1814-75) for the welfare of her children: and he also supported the keep of a day centre for children in Rue Vandrezanne in Paris.

Corot died in Paris in 1875 and was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery.