National Gallery of Art #18 (Part 1 of 2)

Recently, a follower of this blog commented, "You guys go to a lot of museums!"

Yes.  Yes, we do.  We enjoy viewing and learning about art and artifacts of all kinds.

We also enjoy the climate-controlled conditions inside museums in D.C.  Outside during Summer, it is a bit too hot and sticky to enjoy much of anything, except being hot and sticky.

Recently, we returned to the National Gallery of Art to view the temporary exhibition Corot: Women.  We joined a guided tour with one of the museum's excellent senior lecturers, who helped us understand and appreciate Camille Corot's paintings of human figures, mostly women.  We learned about who influenced Corot (e.g., da Vinci, Raphael and Durer) and whom Corot influenced (e.g., Braque and Picasso).  

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (French, Paris 1796-1875), was the son of a cloth merchant and a milliner. After an education at the Collège de Rouen and two abortive apprenticeships in the family trade, he was given the financial freedom at age 26 to devote himself to painting.

Corot studied landscape painting.  In 1825 to 1828, Corot made a trip to Italy considered essential for a serious landscape artist.  Corot returned to Italy two more times. He also traveled extensively in France and elsewhere in Europe.  During these trips, Corot, unlike most artists of the time and before, often painted in the open air instead of a studio.  (Credit:  National Gallery, London.)

Corot is primarily known for his excellent landscape paintings, like the two pictured below.  

In addition, Corot painted scores of female figures but rarely exhibited them.  Many were kept in his studio and not publicly exhibited until after his death.  Three decades later, Corot's paintings of women gained favor with art critics and artists like Braque and Picasso.

Below is a virtual tour of the exhibition, Corot: Women.

Below is a photograph of Georges Braque's Cubist version of Corot's Woman with a Large Toque [Hat] and a Mandolin.  

Woman with a Mandolin by Georges Braque (1910) (Oil on canvas)

Can you see the resemblance?  

Next Up:  More of Corot's Women, including a very famous lady.