River with a Distant Tower

Camille Corot

1865 · Oil on canvas · European Paintings

The writer Théophile Thoré repeated his habitual criticism of Corot in 1865, the date of this picture: "Corot almost never made anything besides the same one landscape, but it is good." The landscape here was conceived by Corot in his studio from stock elements that he knew by heart: the cluster of silvery trees, the body of leaden water, the peasant figures and boatman, the distant tower. Like his idol Claude Lorrain, Corot could generate a landscape and a mood through the power of his imagination.

Artist

Camille Corot

Date

1865

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

Bequest of Robert Graham Dun, 1900