Italian Peasant Boy
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot·1825/1827
Historical Context
Corot's Italian Peasant Boy from 1825-27 was painted during his first Italian sojourn — the formative journey that established his approach to outdoor painting and remained the foundation of his entire subsequent career. Corot spent three years in Italy from 1825 to 1828, painting the landscape with a directness and tonal precision that made his Italian oil studies among the finest examples of plein-air painting ever created. His Italian figure studies — peasants, fishermen, women in traditional dress — brought the same concentrated observation to human subjects that his landscape studies applied to rocks, trees, and atmospheric conditions.
Technical Analysis
The oil on paper mounted on canvas shows Corot's direct, spontaneous technique for figure painting. The warm Italian light is captured in luminous flesh tones and the rich colors of the boy's clothing. The handling is broad and confident, with descriptive brushwork that captures the subject's character without excessive detail.
Provenance
Alexandre Blanc, Paris;[1] (his sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 3 December 1906, no. 39, 2,000 francs). (Moderne Galerie Heinrich Thannhauser, Munich), by 1913 until at least 1916.[2] Private collection, Germany, in 1927. (Etienne Bignou, Paris); sold to (Chester Johnson Gallery, Chicago).[3] (John Levy Galleries, New York); sold 4 February 1929 to Chester Dale [1883-1962], New York; bequest 1963 to NGA. [1] It is possible that the NGA painting is that described in Alfred Robaut, _L'oeuvre de Corot_, Paris, 1905: II:22, no. 57. If so, the provenance before Alexandre Blanc is as follows: the artist; (his estate sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 26 May 1875, no. 12); purchased by (Brame, Paris). Jules Paton, Paris; (his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 24 April 1883, no. 34). Charles Leroux, Paris; (his sale, Paris, 27 February 1888, no 23); purchased by Dillais; (his sale, Paris, 30 May 1892, no. 12). This is the provenance which is listed in the Bignou photograph albums, Documentation, Musée d'Orsay (copy, NGA curatorial files). [2] Listed and illustrated in Georg Biermann, "Gemalde aus dem Besitz der Modernen Galerie Thannhauser, München," _Der Cicerone_, (May 1913): 339ff. Included in the 1916 _Katalog der Modernen Galerie Heinrich Thannhauser München_, p. xxix, repro. 14. [3] According to Chester Dale papers in NGA curatorial files.
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