Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Corot, an original painter who produced a body of work of exceptional range, has been many things to many viewers. His silvery landscapes were adored by nineteenth-century collectors, and his sparkling sketches painted in plein air were later hailed as precursors of Impressionism. Art lovers have prized his figures paintings, the least well known and perhaps the most modern of all his work.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

This magnificent scholarly exhibition catalog, which accompanies a retrospective commemorating the bicentennial of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot's birth, was compiled by leading curators at the host museums in Paris, New York, and Ottawa. Each author focuses insightfully on a chronological period in Corot's life and oeuvre, relating current Corot scholarship to the earliest work of Alfred Robaut and others. Vincent Pomarède (paintings, Musée du Louvre) and Michael Pantazzi (European paintings, National Gallery of Canada) also contributed two fascinating essays dealing with Corot forgeries and collectors, respectively. The beautiful reproductions of works exhibited illustrate the breadth of Corot's output, and black-and-white illustrations relate possible sources or complementary works. An essential purchase for academic and special libraries and strongly recommended for public libraries with large art holdings.‘P. Steven Thomas, Illinois State Univ. Lib., Normal (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

The quintessential painter of poetic landscapes, Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot is often pegged as the direct precursor of the impressionists, or as the last neoclassicist. A more complex sense of the great French innovator is conveyed in this beautiful catalogue of a major retrospective at Manhattan's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Special attention is given to Corot's dramatic history paintings, which made his reputation in the 1840s. He also emerges as an inventive figurative painter who reworked certain recurrent themes, such as oddly manipulated views or figures directly facing the spectator, disconcertingly reversing the roles of the observer and the observed. An interesting essay investigates the problem of hundreds of forgeries, complicated by Corot's peculiar habit of authenticating, retouching or signing spurious copies of his works. This revelatory study gives us the many sides of an artist who ultimately eludes attempts to decode his works. The authors are curators, respectively, at the Metropolitan, the National Gallery of Canada and the Louvre. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

CHOICE Review

Corot really has his own idiom in the language of art. A very model of Romantic era virtues--deep appreciation of nature and great personal benevolence--he possessed in addition a unique perceptiveness before the wonders of creation, a thoroughly understood competence in the formal methods that preceded him, and a recognition of the newly discovered open-air approach, wherein the painter accepts the aesthetic lead of nature. A sense of complete aesthetic perfection permeates Corot's work--the superb detail studies included in the book could stand alone, adequate emotionally and artistically. Architectural paintings reveal Corot's marvelous sense of composition. The many portraits included are faultless, full of dignity and reposeful individuality. Into this relatively peaceful account intrudes the distressing issue of forgeries. There were and are many, some regrettably due to Corot's own generosity. Corot's retrospective has major significance for our environmentally challenged time. Here is a well-chosen selection of inspired works. Evidence of Corot's singular contribution is found within these readable pages covering the artist's life story, the circumstances of each painting, all phases of his talent, and his appealing personality. A diverse and appreciative audience will likely include artists in most media, naturalists, environmentalists, and students of the 19th century. Reproductions are of fine quality. Chronology; history and discussion of collectors; list of works cited. General; upper-division undergraduate through professional. C. Pascoe College of Mount Saint Vincent