art learning resource – impressionist and modern art - National ...

french art of the nineteenth century(gallery 11)• Look at this painting. Let your eye wander through it.• Can you think of single words to describe what you can see?• Look at the colours. Can you think of new names for the different greens youcan see here?• How many people are there?• What are they doing?• Why do you think Corot has included people here?• Look closely at the brushmarks and the paint. Can you describe thebrushmarks?• Do you think this is a real or an imagined place?• What might be real and what might be imagined?• Describe the mood of this place.French Art of the Nineteenth Century (Gallery 11)Castel Gandolfo, a papal summer residence is situated next to lake Albano in theRoman countryside. This was the countryside that had inspired Claude Lorrain,a seventeenth-century artist who greatly influenced Corot. Travelling to Italy wasconsidered essential for the career of a landscape artist and Corot had been thereduring the 1820s and again later. He also travelled extensively throughout Europefilling his notebooks with drawings and painting in the open air.By the 1850s the style of his work had changed. His paint was thinner, thebrushwork was quite feathery and the colours more subtle. He restricted hischoice of colour and used muted tones of soft greens and greys. In this paintingbrighter colour have been confined to the people – the man’s red cap and thewoman’s yellow headscarf, thus drawing attention to them. Dashes of red likethis were commonly used in traditional landscape painting, to balance out thegreys and the greens. The people here are important in contributing to themood of the work. The mood and atmosphere created is more important thantopographical detail.This period was a distinctive time in Corot’s career. He had gained an admiralreputation and this style of painting became very popular especially afterEmperor Napoleon III bought an example in 1855. This work was comissioned,however, it is very similar in style to others from the period. It shows theinfluence of Italy and especially of Claude Lorrain in his composition, choiceof subject matter and the depiction of light. Corot greatly influenced theImpressionists, especially in terms of how he showed light in his work and theidea of working outside in the open air.www.museumwales.ac.uk/learning • Tel: (029) 2057 3240 6