Forest of Fontainebleau

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (French, 1796–1875)

1846

Country of Origin, for CustomsFrance

Medium/TechniqueOil on canvas

Dimensions90.2 x 128.8 cm (35 1/2 x 50 3/4 in.)

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Samuel Dennis Warren

Accession number90.199

On View

On view

ClassificationsPaintings

Collections

Europe

Description

Beginning in the 1820s, Corot frequently visited the Forest of Fontainebleau, creating numerous oil sketches in the outdoors. He later reworked these sketches in his studio to create carefully structured compositions like this work, which was accepted for the Salon of 1846—a landmark moment in Corot’s career. The Salon jury rarely accepted large-scale landscapes without a mythological or historical theme.

InscriptionsLower left: COROTProvenanceFebruary 5-6, 1872, contributed by the artist to the Auguste Anastasi sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, lot 26 [see note 1], sold for fr. 4000 to Alfred Robaut (b. 1830 - d. 1909), Paris, who owned it until at least 1878 [see note 2]. March 2, 1881, M. Guébin sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, lot 18, sold for fr. 4700 to Louis Latouche (b. 1829 - d. 1884), Paris; sold by Latouche to Ferdinand Barbédienne (b. 1810 - d. 1892), Paris [see note 3]; sold by Barbédienne to Thomas Robinson for Seth Morton Vose (b. 1831 - d. 1910) [see note 4]; by 1884, sold by Vose to Beriah Wall, Providence, RI [see note 5]; March 30 - April 1, 1886, Wall sale, American Art Galleries, New York, lot 263, to Seth Morton Vose for Susan Cornelia Clarke (Mrs. Samuel Dennis) Warren (b. 1825 - d. 1901), Boston; 1890, gift of Mrs. Samuel Dennis Warren to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 2, 1890)

NOTES:
[1] Corot exhibited this painting at the Salon of 1846 and kept it in his possession until 1872. Several artists contributed works of art to this auction to raise money for the painter Auguste Anastasi (b. 1820 - d. 1889), who had become blind.

[2] According to Alfred Robaut, "L'oeuvre de Corot, catalogue raisonné et illustré" (Paris, 1905), cat. no. 502, who states that Corot signed it after he purchased it. Robaut lent the painting to Durand-Ruel in 1878.

[3] According to Achille Oudinot, in the "Catalogue of the Private Collections of Modern Paintings belonging to Mr. Beriah Wall and John A. Brown," American Art Galleries, March 30 - April 1, 1886, p. 93, the painting "hung in Corot's studio, and he would not sell it, but when Mr. Anastasi became blind, he made a gift of it to the fund raised to support him. The amateur who bought it (Latouche) sold it to Barbedienne, the picture dealer... Mr. Robinson imported it from him and sold it to Mr. Beriah Wall."

[4] Robert C. Vose wrote to Charles Cunningham of the MFA (November 9, 1937) that "Father bought the picture from Barbedienne.... The transaction was negotiated by Thomas Robinson...who for many years was my Father's purchasing agent in Europe."

[5] It was in his possession by 1884; see the "Illustrated Catalogue of the Art Collection of Beriah Wall, Providence, R. I." (Providence, 1884), cat. no. 27.