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Lot Essay
Le cantonnier et sa femme was painted at the peak of Corot's career. The Exposition Universelle of 1855 had earned Corot a first class medal and his reputation grew steadily, culminating in the Salon of 1859. It was during this period that Corot came to be recognized as the greatest French landscape painter by critics such as Philippe de Chenneviéres who called him a 'poet of the landscape'. Corot was to enjoy the official patronage of the State after his painting Souvenir de Marcoussis (Musée du Louvre) was purchased by Napoleon III in 1855 from the Exposition Universelle. From 1851, Corot either served as a member of the jury or was hors concours (automatically admitted to the Salon). Through this position he was able to influence the character of the Salons that followed. His works had a profound impact over a number of the younger artists who later came to be known as the Impressionists; Berthe Morisot was his student for a period and Camille Pissarro described himself as a pupil in Salon brochures. Corot's paintings were in high demand from collectors and dealers alike and it is interesting to note that Le cantonnier et sa femme appears in the records of the 19th Century Parisian dealer Arthur Stevens who also handled Jean-François Millet's La cardeuse (sold Christie's, New York, 22 May 1996, lot 157). Le cantonnier et sa femme was later acquired by the pre-eminent Boston collector Quincy Adams Shaw.
The work is a prime example of Corot's mature style. Apparently painted en plein air, the brushwork is vigorous and imbued with a vivid sense of light. Corot deftly captures the effect of the mid-day sun as it beats down upon the field workers below. The field workers themselves merge with the landscape and appear in harmony with their surroundings. Indeed, the critic Edmond About wrote: "No artist has more style or can better communicate his ideas in a landscape. He transforms everything he touches, he appropriates everything he paints, he never copies, and, even when he works directly from nature, he invents. As they pass through his imagination, objects take on a vague and delightful form. Colors soften and melt: everything becomes fresh, young, harmonious...One can easily see that air floods his paintings, but we will never know by what secret he manages to paint air" (quoted in G. Tinterow, Corot, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, exh. cat., pp.236-7).
The present work has been examined and authenticated by Martin Dieterle.
The work is a prime example of Corot's mature style. Apparently painted en plein air, the brushwork is vigorous and imbued with a vivid sense of light. Corot deftly captures the effect of the mid-day sun as it beats down upon the field workers below. The field workers themselves merge with the landscape and appear in harmony with their surroundings. Indeed, the critic Edmond About wrote: "No artist has more style or can better communicate his ideas in a landscape. He transforms everything he touches, he appropriates everything he paints, he never copies, and, even when he works directly from nature, he invents. As they pass through his imagination, objects take on a vague and delightful form. Colors soften and melt: everything becomes fresh, young, harmonious...One can easily see that air floods his paintings, but we will never know by what secret he manages to paint air" (quoted in G. Tinterow, Corot, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, exh. cat., pp.236-7).
The present work has been examined and authenticated by Martin Dieterle.