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Artists in 60 Seconds: Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

French Painter

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© The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (French, 1796-1875). Sibylle, ca. 1870. Oil on canvas. 32 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (81.9 x 64.8 cm). H. O. Havermeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H.O. Havermeyer, 1929.

© The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Movement, Style, School or Type of Art

Realism, Barbizon School

Date and Place of Birth

July 17, 1796, Paris, France

Life

Corot was one of those rare, happy artists who had discretionary income and a financially supportive family. Free to concentrate on making (not selling) art, he moved through a variety of styles, becoming ever more spontaneous in his composition, brushwork and emotive "feel," and pure in his color palette. Associated with the Barbizon School, he is, naturally, best known for his landscapes. Additionally, his work is not incorrectly credited as being an immediate precursor of Impressionism.

Important Works

  • View the Forest of Fontainebleau, 1831
  • View of Avray, 1840
  • Morning, the Dance of the Nymphs, ca. 1850
  • The Harbor of La Rochelle, 1851

Date and Place of Death

February 22, 1875, Paris, France

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