Ville d'Avray

Ville-d'Avray is an oil on canvas that Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot painted in 1865, and it is now held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The place held a special importance in the artist's life. In 1817, Corot's father bought a country house in Ville-d'Avray, on the outskirts of Paris, and for Corot this village came to play a role similar to that of the Fontainebleau Forest for the Barbizon painters. Throughout his career he returned again and again to views of this spot.

The scene centres on the still surface of a pond, with a few buildings rising on the far shore. Peasants move through the landscape, almost merged with it as they go about their everyday tasks, none of them the clear focus of the picture. In the foreground stands one of Corot's favourite subjects, trees, most likely willows, which he painted often.

The palette of soft, silvery tones suggests the early hours of the morning. The pale sky is mirrored in the water beside the houses, and the sunlight falling on them recalls the sketches Corot made in Italy. The objects shown are quite ordinary, yet Corot gives the whole a sense of calm and quiet, while the abundance of light and air seems to dissolve the forms of nature gently.

The painting was donated in 1955 to the National Gallery of Art by Count Cecil Pecci-Blunt.

Painter

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot

Date

1865

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

49 × 66 cm

Museum

Galería Nacional de Arte, Washington, D.C.

Genre

landscape painting

Depicts

tree, Ville-d'Avray

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