Not only did he help advance the mainstream Impressionists and their careers, but he led the way in his paintings. Happy 200th birthday!
Corot
Born two centuries ago, his paintings anticipated and influenced those of the mainstream Impressionists. He even painted from a floating studio.
His meticulous paintings of farm animals transformed landscape practice, and created a new sub-genre.
His visit to Italy resulted in some of the finest paintings of Venice, several completed shortly before his untimely death.
Was he really one of the most important French painters of the nineteenth century?
Some of the Impressionists did paint (possibly) narrative works. But they didn’t always work out.
We still associate brushmarks with sketchiness, speed of painting, spontaneity, bravura, and panache – and smooth paint surfaces, assembled from multiple layers and glazes, as being heartless mechanical essays in technique.
It is hard to be sure when oil painting outdoors first started, but the oldest such paintings date from before 1700.
Looser and more painterly styles from Guardi around 1775 to Delacroix in 1862: paving the way for the Impressionists.
Sadly neglected today, his landscapes are some of the finest of the century, and his depictions of trees are among the best.
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