Un Chemin Montant (An Uphill Path) from the collection of Van Every/Smith Galleries at Davidson

Un Chemin Montant (An Uphill Path), 1830-1833

Oil on paper laid down on canvas

7 x 11.25 in (17.78 x 28.58 cm)

Inv: 2022.9.5

Location: Collection Storage Hanging Storage

Gift from the Estate of Dr. Joan C. Huntley

'No man should become an artist who is not passionate about nature,' wrote Camille Corot around 1830 (Corot, Carnets, 1825-35). The great artist remained true to this statement his entire life, and inspired generations of artists both during his lifetime and upon his death to pick up their paints and move outside to paint the glories of nature firsthand.

Charles Baudelaire, one of the great writers of the 19th Century and a fervent admirer of Romantic art, wrote in his Salon review of 1845:
'Obviously this artist loves nature sincerely, and knows how to look at her with as much knowledge as love. The qualities by which the excels are so strong - because they are qualities of heart and soul - that M. Corot's influence is visible today in almost all the works of the young landscape painters - in those, above all, who already had the good sense to imitate him and to profit by his manner before he was famous and at a time when his reputation did not extend beyond the world of the studios' (C. Baudelaire, Art in Paris, 1845 - 1862. Salons and Other Exhibitions, (ed. J. Mayne), London, 1965, p. 24).

It is clear that this is precisely what the artist himself has done. Un Chemin montant was certainly painted out of doors, and Corot has captured all the spontaneity of the light, luminescence of the colors and the immediacy of the landscape all on a sheet of paper the size of a notebook.
Christie's Sale, 24 October 2007, Lot Essay

From Van Every/Smith Galleries at Davidson College

Robert Mangold

B Orange, from "Three Aquatints" portfolio, 1979

Etching and aquatint on wove paper mounted to board

43.625 x 40.75 in (110.81 x 103.51 cm)
George Bireline

Windfall, Two Views, 1978

Screenprint on paper

22.75 x 29 in (57.79 x 73.66 cm)
William Eggleston

Untitled, from Jamaica Botanical Series, c. 1978

Chromogenic print

13.875 x 16.875 in (35.24 x 42.86 cm)
John Pfahl

Red Arrow, Roan Mountain, North Carolina, 1975

Chromogenic print

7.25 x 9 in (18.42 x 22.86 cm)
Dame Elisabeth Frink

Corrida I, 1973

Lithograph on paper

21.8125 x 30.4375 in (55.4 x 77.31 cm)
Kenneth Freed

Untitled, 1970

Oil pastel on paper

10 x 12 in (25.4 x 30.48 cm)
John Boydell

Dramatic Works of Shakespeare - King Henry the Sixth, 1803

Engraving on paper

17.25 x 23.25 in (43.82 x 59.06 cm)
William Eggleston

Plate 10 (from Graceland), 1983-1984

Dye transfer print

14 x 22 in (35.56 x 55.88 cm)

View All Artworks

About the artist

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

French

1796-1875

Born in Paris in 1796, Corot studied at the Collège de Rouen. He then studied with the landscapist Achille Etna Michallon, and later, Jean-Victor Bertin - both of which were pupils of Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes. He travelled all over Europe producing many landscape paintings. Corot was the leading painter of the Barbizon School of France in the mid-nineteenth century and a pivotal figure in landscape painting. He was a great influence on the 19th century landscape painting and the Impressionists. His work had been exhibited in the Paris Salon and at the Exposition Universelle of 1855. Corot produced more than 3,000 paintings over the course of his artistic career.

Additional Details

Additional Artworks

B Orange, from "Three Aquatints" portfolio, 1979

Windfall, Two Views, 1978

Untitled, from Jamaica Botanical Series, c. 1978

Red Arrow, Roan Mountain, North Carolina, 1975

Corrida I, 1973

Untitled, 1970

Dramatic Works of Shakespeare - King Henry the Sixth, 1803

Plate 10 (from Graceland), 1983-1984

About the artist

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot