Corot, Jean-Baptiste-Camille (1796-1875)
Le Matin, Paysage avec deux vaches et un personnage (Morning: Landscape with Two Cows and a Figure)
c.1855–1860
Oil on canvas, 23.2 × 18 cm
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875) was born in Paris and only at the age of 26 devoted himself to painting. He studied with two pupils of Pierre-Henri Valenciennes (1750-1819), first with Achille Etna Michallon (1796-1822) and later with Jean-Victor Bertin (1767-1842). He spent three years in Italy and specialised in landscape paintings. He enjoyed quickly a great success but the turning-point of his career, however, came with the accession to power of Louis-Napoléon who praised his art with the consequence that collectors and dealers began to be interested in his work.
This painting is a fine example of Corot‘s late period when he painted landscapes only vaguely reminiscent of places. It masterly depicts the very early morning when the sunlight is still week but appears already bright and translucent. The cool palette and strong areas of shade are typical of Corot‘s late period when the difference between outdoor and studio work lessened. (V&A)