Jean-Baptiste Camille COROT (Paris, 1796 - Ville-d'Avray, 1875) Tree by the Marshes Oil on panel, one plate Signed 'COROT' lower right Old label '1204' on verso In a carved and gilded oak frame, French work of the Louis XV period Tree by the marshes, oil on panel, signed, by J.-B. C. Corot 5.31 x 6.69 in. 13.5 x 17 cm Provenance: Georges Bernheim Collection ; His sale, Paris, 7 June 1935, no. 40 (10 500 Frs) ; Charles Comiot Collection; Anthime Mazeran Collection; Galerie Huguette Berès, Paris ; Acquired from the latter by the current owner's father in 1988; Private collection, Ile-de-France Bibliography: André Schoeller and Jean Dieterle, Corot, Deuxième supplément à l'œuvre peint de Corot par A. Robaut, Paris, 1956, no. 57 It is interesting to note that our picture was painted by Corot in the early 1870s, in his last years. At the time, the art world was in a state of upheaval, with young artists coming to the fore with positions as casual as their brushes, and challenging the traditional theories of painting that were still widely accepted at the time. Impressionism was not officially born, but it already existed. Corot, for his part, had always kept his distance from these considerations, taking advantage of his status as a free electron and preaching his allegiance to the great masters of classical landscape painting, Poussin and Valenciennes, to anyone who would listen. Nevertheless, despite himself, his legacy was a creative inspiration for the new generation. His predilection for working in the open air and landscapes captured on the spot, as well as his independent and radically new research into light, were all modernities that inspired Monet, Renoir, Pissarro and others to lay the foundations of their art. It's hard to disagree with them when you admire our delightful little panel. The brushstrokes are free, the material is sometimes thick, sometimes liquid, sometimes scraped with the back of the brush, sometimes treated in reserve; the sky is nervous, the branches of the tree, the real hero of our painting, are moving and its leaves are caught in the wind. All these particularly brilliant elements make our panel a small masterpiece. Jean-Baptiste Camille COROT (Paris, 1796 - Ville-d'Avray, 1875) 13.5 x 17 cm