Corot, Jean-Baptiste-Camille (1796-1875)
Fille à la mandoline (Girl with Mandolin)
1860–1865
Oil on canvas, 51.4 x 40.3 cm
Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot was nearly 70 years old and at the height of his considerable fame as a landscape artist when he painted Girl with Mandolin. Corot employed models and directed them to strike contemplative attitudes, often holding an instrument or a book. Posing in the theatrical space of the studio, this young woman wears an Italian peasant costume and idly plucks the mandolin strings. (SLAM)