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A FLOOD
By JEAN BAPTISTE CAMILLE COROT (1796-1875)
IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON
Quite recently, the art treasures of England have been enriched by the addition of several pictures from the brush of Corot, notably by means of the Ionides bequest of some of his minor canvases which are housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the George Salting bequest, which placed the National Gallery in possession of seven masterpieces (including the present subject) in 1910.
Corot was the son of well-to-do parents of the tradesman class. His father was a fashionable barber, who was able to give his son a good education. When he left school, the youth became an assistant in a Paris drapery house, and he followed this calling for eight years. It was only when he was twenty-seven years of age that his father agreed to his abandonment of trade for art; but, having consented, the parent treated his son with generosity, so that he was able to study systematically. Three years later he went to Rome, where he remained for two years, and on his return to Paris he contributed two landscapes to the Salon. It must be confessed that his early work was precise in form and lacking in originality, and that his progress towards fame was terribly slow. Not till he was about forty years of age did his own particular genius assert itself, but from that time his position was assured. Thenceforth he maintained a steady progress towards fame and wealth, and an accumulation of honours was bestowed upon him. He won medals at the Salon in 1833, 1848, 1855, and 1867, received the Legion of Honour in 1846, and became an officer of that order in 1867.
Corot's style is characterised by great breadth combined with delicacy, wherein accuracy of detail is subordinated to the harmony of the general effect. The Wallace Collection possesses one masterpiece from his brush (" Macbeth and the Witches "), and six other fine specimens are to be seen in the Glasgow Art Gallery.
From the book "Famous Paintings" Volume 2 printed in 1913.
Large files of this public domain print are available at Stock Photos at Songs of Praise
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Online "Name the Painting"
Jean Baptiste- Camille Corot
Web Museum, Paris
Corot at Wikipedia
Jean Baptiste- Camille Corot
paintings at Olga's Gallery
Biography of Corot
at Olga's Gallery
Corot at the ArtChive
Jean Baptiste- Camille Corot
links at ArtCyclopedia
Famous Paintings in this Series
