(Paris 1796–1875 Ville d’Avray)
“La Remise du Bateau”, 1872, signed Corot, oil on canvas, 33.5 x 60 cm, framed

Provenance:
Gift of the artist to Monsieur Villaret;
Galerie Georges Bernheim (formerly Galerie Georges Petit), Paris, June 1924;
Sold to Knoedler, New York, August 1924 (no. 15952);
John Todd Collection, USA, 1926;
Midwestern Museum Collection, USA, 1953;
Sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 13 May 1953, lot 66;
Private Collection, New York;
Sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 25 January 1961, lot 75;
Sale Christie’s, London, 11 April 1972, lot 12;
Abels Gemälde-Galerie, Cologne, autumn 1972 (according to a label on the reverse);
Georg Schäfer Collection, Schweinfurt, until 1996;
Private Collection, Germany.

Catalogued and illustrated in:
Alfred Robaut, Étienne Moreau-Nélaton, L’Oeuvre de Corot. Catalogue raisonné et illustré, Paris 1905, vol. 3, p. 348, no. 2271, ill. p. 349.

"La Remise du Bateau" is an exquisite example of the master at the height of his powers. Corot’s later landscapes have long been celebrated for their subtle rendering of light.

Corot preferred to work during the earliest hours of the day, often waking at 3 a.m. in order to arrive on site with his portable easel and paints before first light and capture the landscape at the break of dawn. The present picture is a lovely exemplar of some of these effects, with the clear early light peeping through the clouds bestowing a golden shimmer on the sky. The present work is a demonstration not only of his innate capacity to capture his local environs, but also of his ability to translate the atmospheric effects of any given time of day onto canvas. His technique is considered to have anticipated the plein-air innovations of Impressionism.

Corot was extremely successful from the 1840s onward. His works were praised by critics and sold well, and he also received state recognition in being admitted to the Legion of Honour. From the 1850s on he increasingly painted atmospheric, idyllic scenes bathed in silvery light.

His landscapes represent a deeply felt and aesthetically refined evocation of time and place and were prized for their sensitivity and poetry.