.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The 1840s were a difficult time in Corot’s life, both personally and artistically. There is a scarcity of documentation in this decade up until around 1851 when he moved out of his parents’ house and began living on his own. Few letters from this period remain and there is no journal.
Corot had significant difficulties with the juries at the Salons in the 1840s even though it was during this decade that his artistic reputation was flourishing. In 1846 he was nominated as a chevalier of the Legion of Honor; however in 1842, two of his five entries for the Salon were rejected and in 1844, he received another rejection. But toward the end of the decade, in 1848, the Salon jury was suspended by the revolution and Corot was elected a member of the commission tasked with selecting a new jury.
In the midst of this decade of both successes and defeats, Corot was awarded his first and only commission. Corot considered the commission for the Church of Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet on the rue Saint-Victor where the boulevard Saint Germain and rue Monge join to be the most important event in his life after his return from his third trip to Italy. The interior decoration was by Charles Le Brun, who is buried in the church. The work is poorly documented but the letter that Corot wrote to the comte de Rambuteau, the prefect of the Seine department, does survive. Corot was recommended for a ‘paysage historique’ and was assigned the baptismal chapel for which the parish priest, according to Moreau-Nélaton, wanted a depiction of Saint Philip the Deacon baptizing the eunuch of the Queen of Ethiopia. Corot flatly refused, preferring instead the eloquent simplicity of Le Baptême du Christ (fig. 1) and after numerous discussions, won his case (E. Moreau-Nélaton, Corot raconté par lui-même, Paris, 1924, p. 65). He began work on the altarpiece in 1845, and the finished painting was probably installed in the chapel that same year.
Few preparatory oils for the finished composition remain, but there are numerous known drawings and sketches which map the evolution of the composition. It is clear from the preliminary studies that do survive that Corot attempted several variations for the two figures of St. John and Christ, which the artist considered to be the most difficult part of the entire composition. In one study, St. John stands on a rock above Christ’s head, and in another (R. 467, fig. 2), Corot tries the two figures standing side by side. The present lot, with St. John kneeling on a rock, is the closest in composition to the pose finally adopted.
Corot was obviously pleased with the ultimate resolution of the composition, as he used this study as the basis for one of the four small mural paintings he executed in 1856 for the transept of the Église Saint-Nicolas et Saint Marc in Ville d’Avray, still in situ.
(fig. 1): Jean-Baptist-Camillle Corot, Le Baptême du Christ, 1845-47. Church of Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet, Paris.
(fig. 2): Jean-Baptist-Camillle Corot, Le Baptême du Christ (Équisse), 1844-45.
Corot had significant difficulties with the juries at the Salons in the 1840s even though it was during this decade that his artistic reputation was flourishing. In 1846 he was nominated as a chevalier of the Legion of Honor; however in 1842, two of his five entries for the Salon were rejected and in 1844, he received another rejection. But toward the end of the decade, in 1848, the Salon jury was suspended by the revolution and Corot was elected a member of the commission tasked with selecting a new jury.
In the midst of this decade of both successes and defeats, Corot was awarded his first and only commission. Corot considered the commission for the Church of Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet on the rue Saint-Victor where the boulevard Saint Germain and rue Monge join to be the most important event in his life after his return from his third trip to Italy. The interior decoration was by Charles Le Brun, who is buried in the church. The work is poorly documented but the letter that Corot wrote to the comte de Rambuteau, the prefect of the Seine department, does survive. Corot was recommended for a ‘paysage historique’ and was assigned the baptismal chapel for which the parish priest, according to Moreau-Nélaton, wanted a depiction of Saint Philip the Deacon baptizing the eunuch of the Queen of Ethiopia. Corot flatly refused, preferring instead the eloquent simplicity of Le Baptême du Christ (fig. 1) and after numerous discussions, won his case (E. Moreau-Nélaton, Corot raconté par lui-même, Paris, 1924, p. 65). He began work on the altarpiece in 1845, and the finished painting was probably installed in the chapel that same year.
Few preparatory oils for the finished composition remain, but there are numerous known drawings and sketches which map the evolution of the composition. It is clear from the preliminary studies that do survive that Corot attempted several variations for the two figures of St. John and Christ, which the artist considered to be the most difficult part of the entire composition. In one study, St. John stands on a rock above Christ’s head, and in another (R. 467, fig. 2), Corot tries the two figures standing side by side. The present lot, with St. John kneeling on a rock, is the closest in composition to the pose finally adopted.
Corot was obviously pleased with the ultimate resolution of the composition, as he used this study as the basis for one of the four small mural paintings he executed in 1856 for the transept of the Église Saint-Nicolas et Saint Marc in Ville d’Avray, still in situ.
(fig. 1): Jean-Baptist-Camillle Corot, Le Baptême du Christ, 1845-47. Church of Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet, Paris.
(fig. 2): Jean-Baptist-Camillle Corot, Le Baptême du Christ (Équisse), 1844-45.