Study for Souvenir de Mortefontaine

In this preparatory drawing, Corot formulates the composition of one of his most celebrated landscapes, a painting in the Louvre that presents a nostalgic recollection, or reminiscence, of the village of Mortefontaine. With an emphatic contour line, he establishes the overall shape of the mass of trees in the mid-ground and its vivid reflection in the water.

Nicolas-August Hazard sale, December 1–3, 1919, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, Lot 317, bought for 1,620 francs by Rosenthal. Private Collection, Lisieux. Gallery Hopkins-Thomas, Paris, 1992. Marc de Montebello Fine Art, New York. W. M. Brady & Co., New York. Frick, 1994, purchased with a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Roswell L. Gilpatric.

Source: The Frick Collection: Drawings, Prints & Later Acquisitions. Volume IX. New York: The Frick Collection, 2003.