After Corot, River Landscape with Boatman and Cows, 1880, Etching

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A man in a white shirt bends over in a long, flat-bottomed punt drifting among the reeds of a still … Read more A man in a white shirt bends over in a long, flat-bottomed punt drifting among the reeds of a still river, in this quiet landscape after Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. Beyond him a meadow stretches back to a dark line of woods, where three cows graze in the half light. On the right a feathery tree with a slender pale trunk leans over the bank, its foliage dissolving into the gray sky, and a path along the water leads to a small figure walking toward a distant cottage roof. The whole scene is bathed in the soft, silvery atmosphere of early morning or evening that Corot made his signature. Corot was the great French landscape painter of the nineteenth century, a link between the classical tradition and the Barbizon painters and Impressionists, and his late, misty river views were among the most loved pictures of the age. The sheet is lettered "Peint par Corot" at lower left and "Photogravure & Imp. Goupil & Cie" at lower right, and the painter's signature, "COROT," is reproduced in the lower right corner of the image. Goupil and Company of Paris were the leading publishers of high-quality reproductions after contemporary paintings in the later nineteenth century. This is a photogravure, made by etching a copper plate from a photograph of the painting and printing it in ink. The process captures the soft gradations of Corot's palette, from the dark woods to the pale sky and its reflection, with a delicacy no line engraving could match. Restful and understated, it suits a bedroom, a reading nook or a calm sitting room, framed in pale gilt or weathered wood. Condition: Light age toning; light handling soiling along the edges and a few small spots in the margins. Printed image clean. This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed. See less