This small sketch records Corot’s composition for The Destruction of Sodom (29.100.18) as the artist conceived it in 1843. That year, the large painting was rejected by the jurors of the Paris Salon but it was accepted when Corot resubmitted it in 1844.
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Jean Parédés, Paris; Prévost (in 1897; his sale, Paris, June 10, 1897, no. 50, withdrawn); [Nat Leeb, Paris, until 1968; sold in December to Hirschl & Adler]; [Hirschl & Adler, New York, 1968–74; sale, Christie's, London, July 6, 1971, no. 4, bought in; sale, Hôtel George V, Paris, March 13–14, 1974, no. 6, bought in; sold on November 9, 1974 to Bühler]; [Galerie Dr. Bühler, Munich, 1974–at least 1980]; sale, Sotheby's, New York, February 29, 1984, no. 14; sold to The Met
New York. Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc. "Selections from the European Collection," February 1970, no. 14.
Tokyo. Seibu Museum. "Millet, Corot and the School of Barbizon," March 15–April 14, 1980, no. T23 (as "Sketch for 'The Destruction of Sodom,'" lent by Dr. Hans-Peter Bühler, Munich).
Kobe. Museum of Modern Art, Hyogo. "Millet, Corot and the School of Barbizon," April 19–May 18, 1980, no. T23.
Sapporo. Hokkaido Prefectural Museum of Modern Art. "Millet, Corot and the School of Barbizon," May 24–June 15, 1980, no. T23.
Hiroshima Prefectural Museum. "Millet, Corot and the School of Barbizon," June 21–July 13, 1980, no. T23.
Kitakyushu Municipal Museum. "Millet, Corot and the School of Barbizon," July 19–August 10, 1980, no. T23.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Barbizon: French Landscapes of the Nineteenth Century," February 4–May 10, 1992, no catalogue.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920," February 4–May 6, 2007, no. 9.
Berlin. Neue Nationalgalerie. "Französische Meisterwerke des 19. Jahrhunderts aus dem Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 1–October 7, 2007, unnumbered cat.
Alfred Robaut. L'Œuvre de Corot: Catalogue raisonné et illustré. [reprint 1965]. Paris, 1905, vol. 2, pp. 168–69, no. 460 bis, ill., states that it is the sketch for the original state of "La Destruction de Sodome" (MMA 29.100.18) and dates it 1843.
Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 2, XIX Century. New York, 1966, p. 52, mentions it as a sketch with variations of MMA 29.100.18.
Hans-Peter Bühler. Die Schule von Barbizon: Französische Landschaftmalerei im 19. Jahrhundert. Munich, 1979, pp. 38, 63, fig. 29 (color).
Fronia E. Wissman. "Corot's Salon Paintings: Sources from French Classicism to Contemporary Theater Design." PhD diss., Yale University, 1989, vol. 1, p. 88, fig. 38.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 405, ill.
Michael Pantazzi inCorot. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1996, p. 253, under no. 114, fig. 106 [French ed., "Corot 1796–1875," Paris, p. 316, under no. 114].
Gary Tinterow inThe Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, pp. 28–29, 193–94, no. 9, ill. (color and black and white).
Margret Stuffmann inCamille Corot: Natur und Traum. Exh. cat., Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe. Heidelberg, 2012, p. 188.
Ashley Dunn in "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 2018–20, Part II: Late Eighteenth Century to Contemporary." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 78 (Spring 2021), p. 18, notes that the charcoal ricordo (souvenir) (ca. 1857, The Met, Promised Gift of Karen B. Cohen) for the final exhibited work (The Met, 29.100.18) maintains the same scale of the figures relative to their setting as the original composition recorded in The Met's oil sketch.
This preparatory study is a record of the initial composition of The Burning of Sodom, before the artist revised the painting (The Met 29.100.18).
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