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拍品专文
Théodore Duret best defined a key quality of Corot’s art in the 1860s when he noted that the painter fixed on canvas not only the visual spectacle before him, but also ‘the exact sensation of something he experienced’ (T. Duret, Les peintres français en 1867, Paris, 1867, p. 27). Théodore de Banville expressed this observation perfectly when he wrote, ‘This is not a landscape painter, this is the very poet of landscape…who breathes the sadness and joys of nature…The bond, the great bond that makes us the brothers of brooks and trees, he sees it; his figures, as poetic as his forests, are not strangers to the woodlands that surrounds them. He knows, more than anyone, he has discovered all the customs of boughs and leaves; and now that he is sure that he will not distort their inner life, he can dispense with all servile imitation (T. de Banville, ‘Le Salon de 1861’ Revue fantastique 2, 1 July 1861, pp. 235, 236).
Le berger sous les arbres (soleil couchant) is an exquisite example by the master at the height of his powers. Corot captures perfectly the moment of crépuscule, when the land is bathed in half-light and the sky still retains the beauty, light and color of the already set sun. A shepherd is seated on a hillock beneath a copse of trees, his sheep scattered throughout the darkening foreground. The golden light of the setting sun suffuses the sky and the distant landscape, bathing both in a rose-gold haze. The depth of the landscape is deftly created by the placement of the figure in the middle ground, lit from behind. The sheep and barely visible track define the foreground, while in the distance the softly lit landscape stretches to the horizon. There is a serenity that pervades the composition and the viewer is invited into a world colored only by the light at the end of day.
It would be fallacy to try to situate Corot’s landscapes too precisely and would only serve to misinterpret the artist’s poetic vision. The wonderfully atmospheric landscapes represent the artist’s meditations on nature and were never meant to portray accurate depictions rooted in time and place. Always lyrical in feel, they are reflections loosely analogous to French Romantic poetry, such as that by Alphonse de Lamartine or Alfred de Musset.
The present work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Martin Dieterle and Claire Lebeau.
Le berger sous les arbres (soleil couchant) is an exquisite example by the master at the height of his powers. Corot captures perfectly the moment of crépuscule, when the land is bathed in half-light and the sky still retains the beauty, light and color of the already set sun. A shepherd is seated on a hillock beneath a copse of trees, his sheep scattered throughout the darkening foreground. The golden light of the setting sun suffuses the sky and the distant landscape, bathing both in a rose-gold haze. The depth of the landscape is deftly created by the placement of the figure in the middle ground, lit from behind. The sheep and barely visible track define the foreground, while in the distance the softly lit landscape stretches to the horizon. There is a serenity that pervades the composition and the viewer is invited into a world colored only by the light at the end of day.
It would be fallacy to try to situate Corot’s landscapes too precisely and would only serve to misinterpret the artist’s poetic vision. The wonderfully atmospheric landscapes represent the artist’s meditations on nature and were never meant to portray accurate depictions rooted in time and place. Always lyrical in feel, they are reflections loosely analogous to French Romantic poetry, such as that by Alphonse de Lamartine or Alfred de Musset.
The present work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Martin Dieterle and Claire Lebeau.