" It is a curious and interesting fact
that when, as in this case, the spirit of classicism reveals itself
anew, its never-dying influence can be the motive for work as
fresh and modern as that of Corot. It is also true that the rigid
enforcement of the study of drawing was a healthy influence on Corot's
early life. All the pictures of his early period show the most minute
attention to form and modelling; and when he had finally rid himself
of the hard manner which it entailed, there remained the substratum of
a constructive basis upon which his freer brush played at will.
[Illustration: A BY-PATH. FROM A PAINTING BY JEAN BAPTISTE CAMILLE
COROT.
One of Corot's later works, and treated with greater freedom than the
earlier.]
Many years, however, Corot was to wait before the memorable day when
he bewailed that his complete collection of works had been spoiled, he
having sold a picture. Living on his modest income, which his father
doubled when, in 1846, the son was given the cross of the Legion of
Honor, he was happy with his two loves, nature and painting. Little
by little he gained a reputation among the artists, especially when,
after 1835, on his return from a second voyage to Italy, he found
that the true country of the artist is his native country. After
that period his works are nearly all French in subject, many of them
painted in the environs of Paris; though, with his Theocritan spirit,
he could see the fountain of Jouvence in the woods of Sevres, and for
him the classic nymph dwelt by the pond at Ville d'Avray.
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