The fresh and often informal treatment of nature by the French painter Jean Baptiste Camille Corot (1796-1875) marked a significant departure from academic tradition and strongly influenced the development of landscape painting in the 19th century.

On July 16, 1796, Camille Corot was born in Paris, the son of Louis Jacques Corot, a cloth merchant, and Marie Françoise Oberson Corot. At the age of 11 Camille was sent to the Collège de Rouen, and he completed his education at a boarding school in Passy in 1814. He went to work for a draper but announced his wish to become a painter. Although his parents did not approve, they did, upon the death of his youngest sister in 1821, transfer to Corot her annual allowance of 1500 livres, thereby enabling him to lead a carefree if modest existence and pursue his one real ambition.

Corot entered the studio of Achille Etna...