View of Volterra

Corot's View of Volterra of 1838 depicts the ancient Etruscan hilltop city in Tuscany, its medieval towers and Renaissance buildings rising above the eroded clay valleys of the Volterra hinterland. Corot visited Volterra during his Italian travels, attracted by the specific quality of Tuscan hill-town light and the dramatic landscape of erosion that surrounds the city. The painting demonstrates his mature handling of distance and atmospheric haze, the city's verticals suggesting human permanence against the geological drama of the surrounding badlands. Volterra's Etruscan origins added archaeological depth to a subject already compelling for its landscape qualities.

Corot renders the distant town with silvery precision against a luminous sky, using subtle tonal gradations to convey the depth of the Tuscan landscape. The foreground foliage is handled with broad, confident brushstrokes.