Camille Corot - a transition period in painting (from old to new)

Jean Baptiste Camille Corot (1796-1875) is a French artist, a very subtle colorist. In his romantic paintings are used shades of tone within the same color. This allowed him to achieve subtle color transitions, showing the richness of color.

"Portrait of a Woman with a Pearl" (1868-1870), Louvre

This chamber piece, for which Camille Corot for the sample took "Portrait of the Mona Lisa" and the work of Jan Vermeer. His model of Bert Goldschmidt is dressed in one of the Italian dresses that Corot brought from his travels. She attracts neither the brightness of the colors, nor the luxury of the clothes themselves. Nothing distracts the look from her face. Thus, the artist tries to build contact with the viewer. The lightest veil covers the forehead of a young woman who seriously looks at the portrait. Her beautiful lips do not even smile, she is so immersed in contemplation of the one who will stop before the picture. This is Leonardo's reception. But the great Italian calculated his "Mona Lisa" according to all the laws of mathematics. Camille Corot was unable to achieve, and maybe not tried, repeated repetition of circles, as in the portrait of Leonardo. Here there are only two circles - the head of a young woman and her folded arms. Together, this sets a certain rhythm. Like Leonardo, the model has a simple hairstyle - hair freely descends on the shoulders, from there and the veil, and almost complete lack of jewelry. There is no landscape. A young woman appears as a bright ray from an uncertain foggy background, on which (again we return to Leonardo's work), the shadows thicken at the bottom of the picture. The costume itself and the range of colors lead us to Raphael, and the used pearl makes us remember Vermeer. And yet the portrait is poetic, although not independent.

"Memoirs of Mortfontaine"

This is a masterpiece that Camille Corot wrote oil on canvas in 1864. A young woman with children enjoys the tranquility of the lake. This is the most poetic work of an experienced master. His picture bears the imprint of an idealized world and at the same time does not lead away from reality. The realistic inclinations of the young Corot were combined with romantic elements and threw a bridge between realism and the developing movement of the Impressionists. In this landscape with the lake is attracted primarily not the details, but the play of light and the muted palette, much less vivid than that of the Impressionists. Fuzzy, fuzzy details allow us to recall the old photographs that the artist collected.

Mortfontaine is a small village in the department of Oise in the north of France. Earlier, in the 50's, Camille Corot visited these places to study the reflection of light in the water. And in "Memoirs" he does not reproduce in detail the landscape, but recalls this complete poetry and serenity of the situation, generalizing his impressions. As the artist himself said, "Beauty in art is bathed in the truth, which I receive from nature. I always try to portray a certain place without losing the original freshness of the feeling that has taken possession of me. " Aura of tranquility, a misty atmosphere that covers the whole canvas, suggests that we are facing an early morning. The greenish-brownish tonality of the landscape complements the colors of the sky and water, giving the landscape a certain mystery and a special silence, in which every rustle is heard and which itself can be listened to. On the left are a girl with two children whose figures stand out clearly against the background of a drying tree, on which there are almost no living branches. At this point in the picture, a reception characteristic of Corot was used - one bright spot appeared.

"The Bridge in Monte" (1868-1870)

Jean Baptiste Camille Corot travels to his native places and takes many of them to the canvas. During his life the artist wrote about three thousand works. "Bridge in Monte" - one of the most famous of its landscapes. To paint this landscape, Koro stopped on an island from which the strict geometric lines of the bridge were clearly visible, which contrast with the crooked tree trunks of the first plan.

Portrait of a Lady in Blue (1874)

This later work of the Corot is in the exposition of the Louvre. On the canvas, standing with his back and half-turned towards the viewer, in a relaxed pose is a model with bare hands. Like blue hyacinth, it stands out on a yellowish background. Nothing distracts her attention from the viewer. Degas appreciated Koro's portraits more than landscapes. Under the influence of his portraits were also Van Gogh, Cezanne, Gauguin, and later Picasso.

Jean Baptiste Camille Corot: works

This artist appeared at a time when classical academicism was already leaving, and a new direction in art was not yet formed. Therefore, his works and are a transitional stage in the history of painting, which does not detract from the work of this painter. He himself is looking for new ways. This is especially evident, because it works mainly in the open-air and the color scale is built within the same color, which was evident from the above reproductions. Its thin semitones (valleys) connect all the surrounding space. It is on them that the unity of the world and man is built. The description of the pictures of Kamil Koro is given in the test of the article.