22. Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
(1796-1875)

Environs de Rome

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Corot, Environs de Rome

Environs de Rome

Etching, 1866, 318 x 240 mm., Delteil 6 ii/iii. Fine impression, with a range of tone, from the first published edition on laid paper with large, full margins and with the blind stamp of Cadart & Luquet; very pale time toning in the area of the old mat opening. The problem with Corot etchings is that the late states are flat in appearance and that supposed first states are all too frequently false first states, late impressions with the letters masked. That problem does not present itself here. As quintessentially French as he was, almost half of Corot’s etchings are of Italian views. This one, of an unidentified location in the Roman Campagna, exemplifies his painterly-style depiction of trees, light, a distant structure and, particularly, a time of day.