[Illustration: EARLY MORNING. JEAN BAPTISTE CAMILLE COROT.
From a painting now in the Louvre. One of the best known of the works
of the master, executed during the transitional period, when he still
gave great attention to detail. The original is remarkable for its
sense of dewy freshness.]
[Illustration: DIANA'S BATH. JEAN BAPTISTE CAMILLE COROT.
From a painting in the Museum at Bordeaux.]
[Illustration: A SHALLOW RIVER. FROM A PAINTING BY THEODORE ROUSSEAU.]
With all this variety, however, the true value of Corot's work lies in
the expression of the spirit of the man himself. It is often possible,
and it is always theoretically desirable, to separate the personality
of a painter from his production in any critical consideration of his
achievement. It is at least only fair to believe that the light which
shines from so many canvases is the true expression of many a life
which is clouded to our superficial view. With Corot, however, it
is impossible to make this separation. Every added detail of his
life--and they are so numerous that in the difficulty of a choice they
must remain unrecorded here--gives a new perception of his work. A
youthful Virgilian spirit to the day of his death, as old at his
birth as the classic source from which he sprang, he invented a method
essentially his own, in which to express his new-old message.
Pages:
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184