DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63220#0042
COROT
public auction seemed to him to be very risky. Still he had in reserve
such a stock of works that perhaps he might part with some of them.
Only a short time before a visitor had asked him, “Have you insured
your studio against fire ? If there were to be one here you would
lose at least forty thousand francs worth of paintings. I once had a
friend whose gallery was destroyed, and the indemnity he received
consoled him for the loss of his pictures.” “ He hadn’t done them,”
interrupted Corot, excitedly ; “if such a misfortune befelme, it would
kill me.” Eventually Corot entrusted thirty-eight pictures to the
ministerial official; among them were five large canvases. The sale
realised 14,233 francs—about ^570. The auctioneer was ashamed
of such a sum—Corot, on the other hand, thought it so high he
could hardly believe it.
The same year, urged by one of his intimate friends, M. J. Michelin,
and assisted by the advice of Bracquemond, Corot resumed his etching
work. He etched the Bateau sous les Saules, the subject of which
was taken from one of the lakes at Ville d’Avray.
In the Salon of 1859 Corot exhibited Dante et Virgile (in which the
animals were drawn by Barye), Macbeth, Idylle, Pay sage avec Figures,
Souvenir du Limousin, Tyrol Italien, and Htude a Ville d' Avray,
Castagnary, when he admires Corot, seems to do so regretfully, and
the conclusion he arrives at is pitiless. “ No truth in his invention,
no variety in his tones and in his lines : his composition is uniform,
his colour impossible, his drawing false and perpetually slack.”
Despite these condemnations Corot does not lose faith in his work,
nor his fondness for truth. In the month of August we find him at
Montlhery, whence he writes to one of his pupils, named Auguin,
living at Bordeaux : “ I am just back from a long visit to Normandy,
and I am ofF again to Switzerland with several friends. I recom-
mend to you the greatest possible simplicity in your work; above all,
do just as you see. Have confidence in yourself, and take for your
motto, ‘ Conscience et confiance.’ Je vous embrasse bien. I’m
working away like a big ruffian.”
No Salon in i860, but in the following year Corot displays six works :
Le Repos, Souvenir dl Italie, Le Lac, Orphee, Soleil Levant, Danse de
Nymphes. “Orpheus” was inspired by a revival of Gluck’s opera,
and the goddess in the picture is Madame Viardot. In this case
Castagnary admires the landscape, “ so suave in its expression that the
tongue of Virgil alone, in its pure and tender tones, could echo and
express it.” Theophile Gautier, on the other hand, is dissatisfied.
Orphee is not particularly to his liking. “This strange unbroken
silhouette of a Eurydice, stiff as a doll, would provoke one to
c xxii
public auction seemed to him to be very risky. Still he had in reserve
such a stock of works that perhaps he might part with some of them.
Only a short time before a visitor had asked him, “Have you insured
your studio against fire ? If there were to be one here you would
lose at least forty thousand francs worth of paintings. I once had a
friend whose gallery was destroyed, and the indemnity he received
consoled him for the loss of his pictures.” “ He hadn’t done them,”
interrupted Corot, excitedly ; “if such a misfortune befelme, it would
kill me.” Eventually Corot entrusted thirty-eight pictures to the
ministerial official; among them were five large canvases. The sale
realised 14,233 francs—about ^570. The auctioneer was ashamed
of such a sum—Corot, on the other hand, thought it so high he
could hardly believe it.
The same year, urged by one of his intimate friends, M. J. Michelin,
and assisted by the advice of Bracquemond, Corot resumed his etching
work. He etched the Bateau sous les Saules, the subject of which
was taken from one of the lakes at Ville d’Avray.
In the Salon of 1859 Corot exhibited Dante et Virgile (in which the
animals were drawn by Barye), Macbeth, Idylle, Pay sage avec Figures,
Souvenir du Limousin, Tyrol Italien, and Htude a Ville d' Avray,
Castagnary, when he admires Corot, seems to do so regretfully, and
the conclusion he arrives at is pitiless. “ No truth in his invention,
no variety in his tones and in his lines : his composition is uniform,
his colour impossible, his drawing false and perpetually slack.”
Despite these condemnations Corot does not lose faith in his work,
nor his fondness for truth. In the month of August we find him at
Montlhery, whence he writes to one of his pupils, named Auguin,
living at Bordeaux : “ I am just back from a long visit to Normandy,
and I am ofF again to Switzerland with several friends. I recom-
mend to you the greatest possible simplicity in your work; above all,
do just as you see. Have confidence in yourself, and take for your
motto, ‘ Conscience et confiance.’ Je vous embrasse bien. I’m
working away like a big ruffian.”
No Salon in i860, but in the following year Corot displays six works :
Le Repos, Souvenir dl Italie, Le Lac, Orphee, Soleil Levant, Danse de
Nymphes. “Orpheus” was inspired by a revival of Gluck’s opera,
and the goddess in the picture is Madame Viardot. In this case
Castagnary admires the landscape, “ so suave in its expression that the
tongue of Virgil alone, in its pure and tender tones, could echo and
express it.” Theophile Gautier, on the other hand, is dissatisfied.
Orphee is not particularly to his liking. “This strange unbroken
silhouette of a Eurydice, stiff as a doll, would provoke one to
c xxii