Beneath the Trees
1871 · Transfer lithograph printed in black on tan China paper laid down on white wove paper, retouched by hand · Image: 22 × 16.5 cm (8 11/16 × 6 1/2 in.); Chine: 28.1 × 22 cm (11 1/8 × 8 11/16 in.); Sheet: 54.3 × 40 cm (21 7/16 × 15 3/4 in.)
Corot, Beneath the Trees, 1871. Transfer lithograph printed in black on tan China paper laid down on white wove paper, retouched by hand.
The Art Institute of Chicago · Prints and Drawings Department Purchase Fund
How to look at a Corot
- Squint first. Count the masses. If you count more than four, squint harder.
- Find the lightest light (nearly always sky, or water reflecting sky) and the darkest dark (nearly always a foreground tree trunk or a shadow under foliage). Everything else sits between them.
- In the Italian graphite sheets, notice how much paper is untouched and how few lines describe a whole hill town. Then notice that every one of those lines is exactly placed.
- In the late charcoals, look for where an edge disappears: a trunk into shadow, a hill into sky. Those lost edges are the air.
- In the etchings, half-close your eyes until the lines vanish and only tones remain. That is what he was building.
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