View of Volterra | Timken Museum

Artist: Jean Baptiste Camille Corot
Title: View of Volterra
Date: 1838
Culture: French
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 32.2 x 24.4 cm (62-5/8 x 47 in.
Accession Number: 1955:002
Credit Line: Jean Baptiste Camille Corot, View of Volterra, 1838, oil on canvas, 32.2 x 24.4 cm (62-5/8 x 47 in.), Putnam Foundation, Timken Museum of Art

Description

In 1834, on his second trip to Italy, Corot spent a month in the 14th century hill town of Volterra, southwest of Florence. During his stay, he completed at least five small oil sketches of the village. In the years after his return to Paris, he used the sketches to paint two large views of the town. Whereas the sketches depict the distinctive buildings, towers, and fortifications of Volterra, the painting here shows only part of the town and emphasizes the golden light and rugged terrain characteristic of the countryside surrounding the village. The work is more an expression of the artist's recollection of the place than a portrait of a specific site.

Related Information / Media

Provenance:

Durand-Ruel, Paris; Boussac collection, Paris; Wildenstein & Co., New York; Acquired by the Putnam Foundation, 1955

Exhibited:

Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, extended loan, 1956-62; San Diego, Timken Art Gallery, and Williamstown, Mass., Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1988, J.-B.-C. Corot: “View of Volterra,” cat. by Fronia E. Wissman.

Literature:

Alfred Robaut, L'Oeuvre de Corot, 4 vols. (Paris, 1905), 2:13O, 131, no. 367, ill.; "Countrywide Loans from California," Art News 55 (November 1956): 33; Agnes Mongan and Elizabeth Mongan, European Paintings in the Timken Art Gallery (San Diego, 1969), pp.102, 103, 133, no. 39, ill.; Jean-Luc Bordeaux, "Baroque to Neo-Classicism," Apollo 115 (June 1982): 456, fig. 17; Timken Art Gallery: European and American Works of Art in the Putnam Foundation Collection (San Diego,1983), pp. 40-41, 118, no.12, ill.

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Note

This record has been reviewed by Timken Museum of Art staff and may be incomplete or contain errors. Our records are constantly revised. Inquiries about provenance are advised to contact the Director of Curatorial Affairs: curator@timkenmuseum.org.