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Fontainebleau: Group of Trees on the Flank of a Rocky Hillside
Camille Corot French
Not on view
Corot approached this bravura sketch with equal parts premeditation and improvisation, a method honed during a quarter-century of painting in the Forest of Fontainebleau. Before setting out from his studio, he applied a dull green underpaint to the entire canvas, which he then held in reserve at the lower left to suggest the form of a hill. He subsequently introduced the more diffusely lit foliage beyond it, and finally added the sun-struck dead tree at center.
Corot may have signed this canvas for an admiring collector. It has only been exhibited once before, when it appeared at auction in 1892.
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