The road from Sèvres to Paris
A country road climbing away from Sèvres towards Paris, under a big grey-silver sky — Corot near his family's house at Ville-d'Avray.
Sèvres
The painting depicts a real landscape or cityscape. The precise viewpoint the artist used may be unknown, so the marker shows the general area.
The road from Sèvres to Paris — at a glance
- Artist
- Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796–1875)
- Year
- c. 1855–1865
- Movement
- Barbizon-era French landscape
- Place
- The country between Sèvres and Ville-d'Avray, west of Paris
- Viewpoint
- A country road near Corot's family home — now built-up suburb; a general viewpoint
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- c. 34 × 49 cm
- Now at
- Musée du Louvre, Paris
Overview
The Road from Sèvres to Paris is a quiet landscape by Camille Corot from his late maturity, about 1855–65. A pale, rutted road climbs from the lower right up and over a low rise, a peasant woman with a bundle walking it; a few trees and cottage roofs line the way, a wall and a field to one side, and a broad, luminous grey sky fills the upper half. It is oil on canvas, about 34 by 49 cm, and it hangs in the Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Where was The road from Sèvres to Paris painted?
Scholarship Corot's family had a house at Ville-d'Avray, a village between Sèvres and Versailles just west of Paris, and he painted the local roads, ponds and woods throughout his life. This road runs through that gently wooded country towards the capital. Ville-d'Avray and Sèvres are now dense western suburbs of Paris and the open road of the picture is built over; the general topography of the wooded hills survives, but this is not a marked viewpoint.
What is in the painting?
The road, chalky and worn, curves up from the front of the picture over a slight hill and out of sight. A woman in a dark skirt and white cap walks away up it carrying a load. Low cottages and a wall stand to the right among a few slender trees; a field opens to the left. Above, the whole top half is soft, silvery, lightly clouded sky.
Look closely
The climbing road
The chalky, rutted road curves up over a low rise and out of sight.
The lone walker
A woman in a white cap walks away up the road with a bundle — the picture's scale and its human note.
The silvery sky
The whole upper half is soft, lightly clouded grey light — Corot's signature.
Analysis
Composition and technique
A single climbing road and a low horizon, with a large calm sky and one small figure for scale.
Scholarship Corot keeps the design very simple — road, low buildings and trees, big sky — and unifies it with a soft, even grey light and delicate greens and buffs. The lone walker gives scale and a note of everyday life; the mood is tranquil and unemphatic.
History & provenance
The painting entered the French national collections and hangs in the Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Sources
- Musée du Louvre, Paris — collection entry for Camille Corot, ‘La Route de Sèvres’ (‘The Road from Sèvres to Paris’, c. 1855–65)
- Gary Tinterow et al., ‘Corot’ (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996)
Related paintings
The Bridge at Narni
1826
Corot's Italian river-and-bridge landscape of 1826 — the plein-air study and its Salon version.
Recollection of Mortefontaine
1864
Corot's dreamy, silvery lakeside ‘souvenir’ of 1864 — the poetic mode of his late work.
The Hay Wain
1821
Constable's Suffolk lane and river of 1821 — the Northern landscape of ordinary country roads.
More by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
The Bridge at Narni
Recollection of Mortefontaine
Castel Sant'Angelo and Tiber
