This picture, shown at the Salon of 1835, is the earliest of four large, ambitious biblical paintings that Corot exhibited in the 1830s and 1840s. Like the Museum’s The Burning of Sodom, it illustrates the story of the family of Abraham. Because his wife, Sarah, was elderly and barren, Abraham fathered a son, Ishmael, with their servant, Hagar. Later, when Sarah bore her own son, Isaac, Hagar and Ishmael were driven away into the desert of Beersheba. For this painting, Corot chose the moment of their divine salvation.
The largely arid landscape is Corot’s invention, but is partially based on nature studies including the Museum’s Fontainebleau: Oak Trees at Bas-Bréau.
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Title:Hagar in the Wilderness
Artist:Camille Corot (French, Paris 1796–1875 Paris)
Date:1835
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:71 x 106 1/2 in. (180.3 x 270.5 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1938
Object Number:38.64
Inscription: Signed and dated (lower left): COROT / 18[35]; stamped? (lower right): VENTE / COROT
the artist, Paris (until d. 1875; his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, première partie, May 26–28, 1875, no. 85, as "Agar," for Fr 3,500 to Fauché); Prince Nicholas J. Soutzo (1875; his? sale, [Hotel Drouot], Paris, November 9, 1875, for Fr 2,900 to Doria); marquis Arthur Doria, Paris (1875–at least 1895); Paul Gallimard, Paris (by 1900–at least 1908); Mlle Diéterle (by 1914–at least 1929); M. Simon; [Wildenstein, Paris and New York, 1937–38; sold to The Met]
Paris. Salon. March 1–?, 1835, no. 440 (as "Agar dans le désert; paysage," lent by the artist).
Paris. Galerie Martinet. "Tableaux de l'école moderne tirés de collections d'amateurs," August 15–?, 1861 [see Mantz 1861, Pantazzi 1996].
Paris. Galerie Martinet. "Première exposition des sociétaires fondateurs de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts," June 15–?, 1862 [see Courrier Artistique 1862, Robaut 1905].
Paris. École Nationale des Beaux-Arts. "Exposition de l'œuvre de Corot," May 1875, no. 226 (as "Agar dans le désert," lent by M. le prince N.-J. S*** ).
Paris. Exposition Internationale Universelle. "Exposition Centennale de l'art français (1800–1889)," May–November 1900, no. 129 (as "Agar dans le désert, grand paysage," lent by M. Gallimard).
Copenhagen. Musée Royal de Copenhague. "Exposition d'art français du XIXe siècle," May 15–June 30, 1914, no. 34 (lent by Mlle Diéterle).
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Corot, 1796–1875," May 11–June 16, 1946, no. 18 (as "Agar dans le désert").
Detroit Institute of Arts. "Thirty-Eight Great Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 2–28, 1951, no catalogue.
Art Gallery of Toronto. "Thirty-Eight Great Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 14–December 12, 1951, no catalogue.
City Art Museum of St. Louis. "Thirty-Eight Great Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," January 6–February 4, 1952, no catalogue.
Seattle Art Museum. "Thirty-Eight Great Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," March 1–June 30, 1952, no catalogue.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Corot, 1796–1875," October 6–November 13, 1960, no. 39 (as "Hagar in the Wilderness").
Edinburgh International Festival. "Corot," August 14–September 12, 1965, no. 33.
London. National Gallery. "Corot," October 1–November 7, 1965, no. 33.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Barbizon: French Landscapes of the Nineteenth Century," February 4–May 10, 1992, no catalogue.
Ottawa. National Gallery of Canada. "Corot 1796–1875," June 21–September 22, 1996, no. 61.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Corot," October 29, 1996–January 19, 1997, no. 61.
"Salon de 1835 (IIIe article). Les peintres et les poètes." L'artiste 9 (1835), pp. 90, 150, praises this picture.
A.-D. Vergnaud. Petit pamphlet sur quelques tableaux du Salon de 1835 et sur beaucoup de journalistes qui en ont rendu compte. Paris, 1835 [see Ref. Robaut 1905], expresses dislike for this painting.
Critique du Salon de 1835, par une société d'artistes et d'hommes de lettres. 2nd ed. Paris, [1835], p. 11.
P. Delaperrière. "Beaux-Arts: Salon de 1835." Revue européenne (January 1, 1835), p. 91, as "Agar dans le désert"; states " . . . tout concourt à faire de ce tableau un chef-d'œuvre. S'il était permis de lui adresser un reproche, il s'adresserait à son exécution manquant de finesse" (everything comes together to make this painting a masterpiece. If it would be permitted to address one reproach to [Corot], he would address his execution lacking finesse.).
A. Ta. "Salon de 1835." Le courrier français 1835 no. 63 (March 5, 1835), unpaginated [p. 1].
Alphonse Karr. "Salon de 1835." Mercure de France no. 2 (March 15, 1835), p. 19, states that it was painted with "touches-carrées comme une imitation de Mosaique" (square brushstrokes in imitation of mosaic).
Charles Lenormant. "De l'école française en 1835: Salon annuel." Revue des deux mondes, 4th ser., 2 (April 1, 1835), p. 167 [[reprinted in Lenormant, "Beaux-arts et voyages," Paris, 1861, p. 114], praises the expressive quality of the setting, in which Corot has used details of the Italian landscape.
L[ouis]. V[iardot]. "Salon de 1835." Le National de 1834 (April 5, 1835), unpaginated, criticizes the execution of this picture, noting, for example, that the rocks should be better grouped and that the angel is too far away.
Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps. "Salon de 1835." Revue Républicaine 5 (April 10, 1835), pp. 82, 84 [excerpt reprinted in Robaut 1905, vol. 4, p. 353], writes with admiration of this picture.
"La salle du grand procès d'avril." Le Charivari 4 (April 18, 1835), p. 3.
A. T. "Salon de 1835." Le courrier français no. 109 (April 20–21, 1835), unpaginated [p. 2], states that the site in which Corot placed Hagar is composed with intelligence and gives a good sense of a "triste et stérile" (sad and sterile) desert.
J. V. "Beaux-Arts: Exposition de 1835." Psyché: Journal de modes, littérature, sciences et beaux-arts 11 (April 23, 1835), p. 77, notes that the isolation that reigns in the desert as depicted is to engender a sense of despair; states that Corot made an error in adding the trees, as they fight that sense of terrible desolation.
Ch. "Salon de 1835." Le Charivari 4 (April 23, 1835), p. 3, notes that this "savamment composé, largement peint" (skillfully composed, broadly painted) landscape provides "une de ces impressions profondes, que les grands artistes ont seuls le secret de produire" (one of those profound impressions that only great artists know the secret of how to produce).
J. A. D. "Feuilleton: Salon de 1835—8e article." Journal du commerce (April 24, 1835), unpaginated, states that it recalls the work of Salvator Rosa; notes that the artist knows just as we do that the shadows of the trees are too dark and that the colors of the rocks are monotone; suggests that the painter respond with a "moins excentrique" (less eccentric) work.
E. S. "Variétes: Beaux-Arts. Exposition de 1835." La tribune politique et littéraire 7 (April 26, 1835), unpaginated, calls the landscape "un des plus savans de l'exposition" (one of the most learned of the exhibition).
L. P. . . . E. "Beaux-Arts: Salon de 1835." Le temps 6 (April 30, 1835), unpaginated, compares it to Poussin's "Landscape with Polyphemus" (1649, Hermitage, St. Petersburg) but calls it a very strange painting and "une si excessive bizarrerie de composition" (such an excessive oddity of composition); states that Corot must have followed Théodore Caruelle d'Aligny for this picture.
V[ictor]. Schoelcher. "Salon de 1835. Dernier article." Revue de Paris 17 (May 1835), pp. 165–66, considers it the most beautiful landscape in the exhibition.
H. T. "Salon de 1835." La Romance 2 (May 16, 1835), p. 78.
Le Charivari (May 29, 1835), pp. 4–5, ill. (lithograph by Célestin Nanteuil), praises this picture, but observes that it only attracted a small group of connoisseurs at the Salon.
Théophile Gautier. L'Ariel (March 19, 1836) [excerpt reprinted in Gautier, "Critique d'Art: Extraits des Salons (1833–1872)," Paris, 1994, p. 123], praises this picture.
Théophile Gautier. "Variétés. Beaux-arts. Topographie du Salon." La presse (March 8, 1837), p. 4, mentions this picture in relation to Corot's "Saint Jerome" (1837; R366; Church of Saint-Nicolas-Saint-Marc, Ville-d'Avray).
[Louis Batissier?]. "Salon de 1837." L'artiste 13 (1837), pp. 146–47, calls it an estimable but incomplete work.
Louis Viardot. "Beaux-Arts. Salon de 1837. -Septième article." Le Siècle (April 17, 1837), p. 1.
Jules Janin. "Salon de 1839 (cinquième article)." L'artiste, 2nd ser., 2 (1839), p. 271.
Ad[olphe]. Desbarrolles. "Notes sur la vie d'artiste (5e article)." Bulletin de l'ami des arts 2 (1844), p. 17, states that this picture was poorly hung at the Salon in the dark galleries known as the Catacombes.
Théophile Silvestre. Histoire des artistes vivants: Français et étrangers. Paris, 1856, pp. 94, 102, 104, quotes Corot's criticism of the model for Hagar; compares this picture to a landscape by Aligny.
Paul Mantz. "Artistes contemporains: Corot." Gazette des beaux-arts 11 (November 1, 1861), p. 422, states that this picture was recently exhibited at the boulevard des Italiens [see Exh. Paris 1861].
"Société nationale des beaux-arts." Le Courrier artistique 2 (June 15, 1862), p. 2, lists it among the pictures marked for sale in an exhibition at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts [Exh. Paris 1862].
Camille Corot. Letter to Auguin. January 15, [1873] [excerpt published in Ref. Robaut 1905, vol. 4, p. 345], mentions that this picture is not in current fashion.
Edouard Daliphard. "Exposition des œuvres de Corot." L'art 2 (May 30, 1875), p. 159, notes that it was purchased a few days ago by prince Soutzo.
Jean Rousseau. "Corot." L'art 1 (March 14, 1875), p. 246.
Charles Bigot. Peintres français contemporains. Paris, 1888, p. 51.
L[éon]. Roger-Milès. Les artistes célèbres. Vol. 32, Corot. Paris, [1891], pp. 26–28, 32, 82, suggests that the landscape in this picture is based on studies of the Italian Tyrol.
A. Larthe-Ménager. "Corot (1796–1875)." Les Contemporains 3 (October 7, 1894), p. 14, states erroneously that Corot left this picture to the Louvre in his will.
L[éon]. Roger-Milès. Album classique des chefs-d'œuvre de Corot. Paris, 1895, pp. 35–36, 56, ill., locates it in the collection of Doria.
John W. Mollett. The Painters of Barbizon: Millet, Rousseau, Diaz, Corot, Daubigny, Dupré. London, 1895, pp. 14, 31.
André Michel. Notes sur l'art moderne (peinture). Paris, 1896, pp. 18–19, 24, states that Corot used a study of trees in Fontainebleau (The Met 1979.404) for the group of trees to the left of the angel; asserts that he worked from a live model for this picture
.
Gustave Geffroy in "Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot." Corot and Millet. Ed. Charles Holme. New York, 1903, pp. cxi, cxiii, states that Corot made studies for this picture in the town of Volterra in Tuscany.
Ethel Birnstingl and Alice Pollard. Corot. London, 1904, pp. 25–26, 62, 166, 177, call it "Hagar in the Wilderness" in the text and "Hagar in the Desert" in the list of works; note the classical influence in this picture.
Alfred Robaut. L'Œuvre de Corot: Catalogue raisonné et illustré. [reprint 1965]. Paris, 1905, vol. 2, pp. 98, 126–27, no. 362, ill.; vol. 4, pp. 96, 167, 171, 202, 277, 295, 345, 353, calls it "Agar dans le désert" and dates it 1834–35; identifies the first study for this painting in a notebook dated about 1833 (R3097).
Maurice Hamel. Corot et son œuvre. Paris, 1905, vol. 1, pp. 15, 18, pl. 7.
Julius Meier-Graefe. Corot und Courbet: Ein Beitrag zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der Modernen Malerei. Leipzig, 1905, pp. 21–22, 29–31, 50 [English translation published in Ref. Meier-Graefe 1908; reprinted in Ref. Meier-Graefe 1913].
Emile Michel. Les artistes célèbres. Vol. 57, Corot. Paris, [1905], p. 24, tentatively dates it before Corot's second trip to Italy; recognizes the Roman countryside, possibly at Castel Sant' Elia, in the background and the rocks at Fontainebleau in the foreground.
Etienne Moreau-Nélaton in Alfred Robaut. L'Œuvre de Corot: Catalogue raisonné et illustré. [reprint 1965]. Paris, 1905, vol. 1, pp. 62, 73, 79, 82 [reprinted in Ref. Moreau-Nélaton 1924], comments that Corot began this picture in 1833, but abandoned it until his return from his second trip to Italy; states that it was intended as a pendant to Corot's "Saint-Jerome" (R366; Ville-d'Avray).
Julius Meier-Graefe. Modern Art, Being a Contribution to a New System of Aesthetics. London, 1908, vol. 1. pp. 164–65, 167–68, 173, 182, remarks that this picture's "superficial conventionality tempts us to overlook all there is of Corot in the picture"; locates it in the Gallimard collection.
Raymond Bouyer. "Corot, peintre de figures." Revue de l'art ancien et moderne 26 (October 1909), p. 300.
Julius Meier-Graefe. Camille Corot. 3rd ed. Munich, 1913, pp. 28, 31, 34, ill. p. 23.
Léon Rosenthal. Du Romantisme au réalisme: essai sur l'évolution de la peinture en France de 1830 à 1848. Paris, 1914, p. 285.
Karl Madsen. Corot og Hans Billeder, I Nordisk Eie. Copenhagen, 1920, pp. 18–20, ill.
Etienne Moreau-Nélaton. Corot raconté par lui-même. 2nd rev. ed. [1st ed., 1905]. Paris, 1924, vol. 1, pp. 32, 39–40, 43–44, fig. 58; vol. 2, p. 158, notes that the young women who worked for Corot's mother posed for his figures of Hagar and Rebecca (R382; Norton Simon Foundation, Pasadena, Calif.).
Marc Lafargue. Corot. London, 1926, pp. 39–41, places it in Corot's classical period, between his Italian paintings and those of the Mortefontaine period.
"Jean-Baptiste Corot (1796–1875): Compositions Classiques." Documents 1 (April–December 1929), ill. p. 89, as "Agar," in the collection of Mlle Dieterle.
C. Bernheim de Villers. Corot: Peintre de figures. Paris, 1930, p. 31, observes that this was the first picture exhibited by Corot in which the figure plays an important role.
Julius Meier-Graefe. Corot. Berlin, 1930, p. 48, comments on the influence of Bertin in this picture; questions whether the drawing (Musée du Louvre, Paris) of one of his mother's dressmakers, later identified by Corot as "my Hagar," is actually related to this painting [see Ref. Moreau-Nélaton 1905, pp. 54–55].
"Activity." Magazine of Art 31 (December 1938), pp. 716–17, ill.
"An Early Corot Masterpiece for the Metropolitan: 'Hagar in the Wilderness'." Art News 37 (November 19, 1938), p. 8, ill.
"From Corot's Youth." Art Digest 13 (December 1, 1938), p. 9, ill.
Harry B. Wehle. "Hagar in the Wilderness by Corot." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 33 (November 1938), pp. 246–49, ill., remarks that although this picture was painted in Paris, the head of Hagar resembles sketches from Corot's first trip to Italy in 1825–28 and the landscape is based on studies made in the Sabine mountains near Narni and Terni.
James W. Lane. "Notes from New York." Apollo 29 (January 1939), pp. 35–37, ill., compares the execution of the trees and the "tawniness of the colours" with Derain.
Art News Annual (1945–46), p. 90, ill., calls it a landscape in the tradition of Poussin.
Henri Marceau. Corot 1796–1875. Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, 1946, pp. 17, 30, no. 18, ill. [includes reprint of Ref. Venturi 1947], calls it "Hagar in the Desert"; states that the landscape was created from sketches or recollections of the Tuscan countryside; comments that this picture was the first to bring Corot success.
Lionello Venturi. Modern Painters. Vol. 1, New York, 1947, p. 148.
Joseph C. Sloane. French Painting Between the Past and the Present: Artists, Critics, and Traditions, from 1848 to 1870. [reprint 1973]. Princeton, 1951, pp. xi, 125, fig. 3.
Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 20.
Daniel Baud-Bovy. Corot. Geneva, 1957, pp. 45, 85, 121–22, 187, 202–4, identifies the sitter in the Louvre drawing of a young woman (R2652) as Alexina Legoux, Corot's favorite of his mother's employees, calling her the inspiration for our painting; criticizes the lack of unity in the composition of the painting and the theatricality of the studio model who actually posed for the figure of Hagar.
François Fosca. Corot, sa vie et son oeuvre. Brussels, 1958, pp. 23, 145, 190, relates it to the historic landscape tradition of Poussin and Claude, and compares its austerity and simplicity to Puvis de Chavannes.
André Coquis. Corot et la critique contemporaine. Paris, 1959, pp. 18–20, 22–23, 25, 46, 71.
Denys Sutton. Corot. Exh. cat., Marlborough Fine Art Ltd. London, 1963, p. 8, discusses it in the context of historical landscapes.
Cecil Gould. Corot. Exh. cat., Edinburgh International Festival. London, 1965, unpaginated, no. 33, pl. 24.
Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 2, XIX Century. New York, 1966, pp. 48–50, ill., remark that although this composition was based on sketches made in Cività Castellana during Corot's first Italian trip as well as studies of the Fontainebleau forest, "the general character of the whole landscape... was surely inspired by memories of his more recent trip to central Italy"; mention the first notebook sketch (R3097), several studies (R135–40, 246A, 278), the drawing of a young woman (Louvre), a painted sketch [see Ref. Bazin 1973], and an engraving on glass (R3207).
Anne Reverdy. L'École de Barbizon: Évolution du prix des tableaux de 1850 à 1960. Mouton, [1967], p. 56.
Madeleine Hours. Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. New York, [1972], pp. 90–91, ill. (color).
Germain Bazin. Corot. 3rd rev. ed. [1st ed., 1942; 2nd ed., 1951]. Paris, 1973, pp. 10, 40–41, 264, 281, reproduces a smaller version of this composition, which does not include the angel, calling it a study for our painting (formerly collection Georges Renand, Paris) [see Ref. Pantazzi 1996].
Pierre Miquel. Le Paysage français au XIXe siècle. Vol. 2, 1824–1874. Maurs-la-jolie, 1975, pp. 18–19.
Hélène Toussaint inHommage à Corot: Peintures et dessins des collections françaises. Exh. cat., Orangerie des Tuileries. Paris, 1975, pp. 69, 75, 181, calls it Corot's most dramatic work.
Anthony F. Janson. "Corot: Tradition and the Muse." Art Quarterly, n.s., 1, no. 4 (1978), p. 298, notes this picture's combination of stylistic and topographical features from both Italy and the North.
Charles S. Moffett and Anne Wagner inThe Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1979–1980. New York, 1980, p. 43.
Carla Maria Puppin. "The Critical Response to Landscape Painting in France, 1830–1851." PhD diss., Bryn Mawr College, 1986, p. 20.
Collection Georges Renand. Drouot-Montaigne. November 20, 1987, unpaginated, under no. 12.
Jean Selz. La Vie et l'œuvre de Camille Corot. Paris, 1988, pp. 102, 104, 107, 134, ill. (color), comments that the publication of Nanteuil's lithograph (see Charivari 1835) was a sign of the contemporary success of this picture; based on notes made by Robaut, suggests that the inspiration for Hagar was another employee of Corot's mother named Zoe, and that it was probably she who posed for the Louvre drawing known as "mon Agar," although she did not pose for the MMA painting (see Silvestre 1856).
Fronia E. Wissman. "Corot's Salon Paintings: Sources from French Classicism to Contemporary Theater Design." PhD diss., Yale University, 1989, vol. 1, pp. 94, 96–98, 106, 160, 191, 198, no. 11, fig. 45, discusses it among other Corot pictures of solitary figures with historical and biblical themes, such as "Saint Jerome" (R366, Ville-d'Avray), "A Monk" (R375, Musée du Louvre, Paris), "Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane" (R610, Musée de Langres), and "Saint Sebastian"(R1063B, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore); remarks that this picture "conveys the plight of the outcasts through the landscape itself"; compares it to Millet's painting of the same subject (1848–49, The Hague).
Peter Galassi inClaude to Corot: The Development of Landscape Painting in France. Ed. Alan Wintermute. Exh. cat., Colnaghi. New York, 1990, p. 246, fig. 16.
Peter Galassi. Corot in Italy: Open-Air Painting and the Classical-Landscape Tradition. New Haven, 1991, pp. 80–81, pl. 94.
Michael Clarke. Corot and the Art of Landscape. London, 1991, pp. 56–58, 60, colorpl. 63, erroneously dates it 1815 in the caption; suggests that Corot referred to the Louvre drawing of a young woman as "mon Agar" because his family disapproved of their romantic involvement.
Jean Leymarie. Corot. 3rd ed. (1st ed., 1966). [Geneva], 1992, p. 75, ill. (color) [English ed., 1979].
Michael Clarke. "Corot: Between the Classical and the Modern." Cezanne & Poussin: A Symposium. Ed. Richard Kendall. Sheffield, 1993, pp. 80–81, pl. 22.
Iain Gale. Corot. London, 1994, pp. 22, 70–71, 114, ill. (color), notes that the overall tonal treatment recalls Aligny; calls this painting a historical landscape focusing on the action of the protagonists, as in the work of Poussin, rather than a landscape history painting, as advocated by Corot's mentor Michallon.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 404, ill.
Vincent Pomarède inCorot. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1996, pp. 27, 74, 84, 135 [Fr. ed., "Corot 1796–1875," Paris, pp. 64, 120, 129, 188].
Michael Pantazzi inCorot. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1996, pp. xiv, 141, 153–57, 159, 175, 183, 186, 400, 402, 411, no. 61, ill. pp. 154–55 and fig. 62 (color, overall and detail) [Fr. ed., "Corot 1796–1875," Paris, pp. 21, 195, 206, 208–10, 226, 236, 240, 466–67, ill. (color)], suggests that the oil sketch (formerly collection Renand) was not a study for this painting, but rather a derivation from it; notes that the rocks, trees, and background were based on studies made at Fontainebleau and Civita Castellana; remarks that Corot's inscription, "Agar, vers 1830," on the Louvre drawing of a young woman seems to confirm its connection to the painting, but doubts the identification of the sitter as Alexina Legoux; suggests the influence of Pier Francesca Mola's "The Angel Appearing to Hagar in the Desert" (1612–66; Musée du Louvre, Paris); mentions a possible connection between the theme of motherhood and despair in this painting with the death of the only child of one of Corot's friends, Mme André Osmond
.
Gary Tinterow inCorot. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1996, p. 271 [French ed., "Corot 1796–1875," 1996, p. 334].
François Fossier et al. "Corot." Connaissance des arts [special exhibition issue for "Corot, 1796–1875"] (1996), pp. 28, 32, fig. 30 (color).
Manuel Jover and Vincent Pomarède. "Camille Corot." Beaux Arts [special exhibition issue for "Corot 1796–1875"] (1996), pp. 14, 43, fig. 39 (color).
Colin B. Bailey in Colin B. Bailey. Renoir's Portraits: Impressions of an Age. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. New Haven, 1997, p. 217.
Vincent Pomarède. "Le Souvenir recomposé: réflexions autour du thème du 'souvenir' dans l'œuvre de Corot." Corot, un artiste et son temps. Ed. Chiara Stefani, Vincent Pomarède, and Gérard de Wallens. Paris, 1998, pp. 433, 581.
Anne Roquebert. "Quelques observations sur la technique de Corot." Corot, un artiste et son temps. Ed. Chiara Stefani, Vincent Pomarède, and Gérard de Wallens. Paris, 1998, pp. 99, 112.
Patricia Mainardi. "Corot entre deux chaises." Corot, un artiste et son temps. Ed. Chiara Stefani, Vincent Pomarède, and Gérard de Wallens. Paris, 1998, p. 169.
Fronia E. Wissman. "Arbres torturés, ailes de fées: les sources des peintures de Salon de Corot." Corot, un artiste et son temps. Ed. Chiara Stefani, Vincent Pomarède, and Gérard de Wallens. Paris, 1998, p. 254.
Cesare de Seta. "Prima di Corot: pittori e scrittori tra Roma e Napoli." Corot, un artiste et son temps. Ed. Chiara Stefani, Vincent Pomarède, and Gérard de Wallens. Paris, 1998, p. 394.
Louise d'Argencourt inThe Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings: Part Four., European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland, 1999, vol. 2, pp. 479–81 n. 3.
Jed Perl. Eyewitness: Reports from an Art World in Crisis. New York, 2000, p. 219, remarks that it has "a clean-lined, off-balance beauty that is far from Neoclassical conventions".
Greg M. Thomas. "The Topographical Aesthetic in French Tourism and Landscape." Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide 1 (Spring 2002), fig. 3 (color) [http://www.19thc-artworldwide.org/spring02/198-the-topographical-aesthetic-in-french-tourism-and-landscape], states that Corot’s inclusion of a study of the Forest of Fontainebleau at the center of the picture buttresses its "theme of being lost in a wasteland lacking history, beauty, and meaning” and illustrates the rise of a new topographical aesthetic rooted in French tourism and tied to the French national identity.
Vincent Pomarède inMaestà di Roma, da Napoleone all'unita d'Italia: D'Ingres à Degas, les artistes français à Rome. Ed. Olivier Bonfait. Exh. cat., Villa Medici, Rome. [Milan], 2003, p. 380 under no. 183, states that the landscape around Cervara, south of Rome, served numerous works by Corot and other artists that were exhibited at the Salon.
Susan Greenberg. "Reforming 'Paysage Historique': Corot and the Generation of 1830." Art History 27 (June 2004), pp. 413–14, 418–22, 426–27 n. 6, p. 429 n. 25, p. 430 n. 41, pl. 3.6, discusses it as a historical landscape which "spoke to Salon viewers in ways that descriptive naturalism could not"; relates Corot's resurrection of the dying genre of historical landscape to the story of Hagar and Ishmael's near death and notes that the construction of the figures' meandering route "emphasizes the experience of dislocation and displacement that characterizes both the picture's theme and the spectator's experience of the landscape"; perceives an element of fear in this picture's "choleric" greenish-yellow tones.
Vincent Pomarède inCorot: Naturaleza, Emoción, Recuerdo. Ed. Vincent Pomarède. Exh. cat., Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid, 2005, pp. 43, 45–46, 274, 306, 338–39, 342, 390, 398, fig. B.5 (color detail).
Michael Clarke inCorot: Naturaleza, Emoción, Recuerdo. Ed. Vincent Pomarède. Exh. cat., Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid, 2005, pp. 24, 331, fig. A.6 (color).
Petra ten-Doesschate Chu. Nineteenth-Century European Art. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J., 2006, pp. 237–38, fig. 10-15 (color).
Katherine Rothkopf. Pissarro: Creating the Impressionist Landscape. Exh. cat., Baltimore Museum of Art. London, 2006, p. 45.
Gary Tinterow inThe Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, p. 26.
Simon Kelly inThe Repeating Image: Multiples in French Painting from David to Matisse. Ed. Eik Kahng. Exh. cat., Walters Art Museum. Baltimore, 2007, p. 76 n. 50, calls it "Hagar and the Angel".
Arlette Sérullaz. Corot. Milan, 2007, p. 71, under no. 12, doubts the authenticity of the inscription "mon Agar" on the Louvre drawing.
Simon Kelly in Kimberly Jones. In the Forest of Fontainebleau: Painters and Photographers from Corot to Monet. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2008, p. 144, as "Hagar and the Angel".
Vincent Pomarède inCorot: Souvenirs et variations. Exh. cat., National Museum of Western Art. Tokyo, 2008, pp. 22–23, 252, fig. 15.
Michael Pantazzi in Jane Kinsman. Degas: The Uncontested Master. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Australia. Canberra, 2008, p. 260 n. 6.
Vincent Pomarède inCorot e l'arte moderna. Souvenirs et Impressions. Exh. cat., Palazzo della Gran Guardia, Verona. Venice, 2009, pp. 13, 53, fig. 14 (color).
Nathalie Michel-Szelechowska inCorot e l'arte moderna. Souvenirs et Impressions. Exh. cat., Palazzo della Gran Guardia, Verona. Venice, 2009, p. 74.
Vincent Pomarède. Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot: Souvenir de Mortefontaine. Paris, 2010, p. 10, fig. 15 (color).
Vincent Pomarède inThe Secret Armoire: Corot's Figure Paintings and the World of Reading. Ed. Mariantonia Reinhard-Felice. Exh. cat., Collection Oskar Reinhart "Am Römerholz," Winterthur. Munich, 2011, pp. 28, 171, fig. 9 (color) [German ed., "Corot. L'Armoire secrète: Eine Lesende im Kontext"].
Dorit Schäfer inCamille Corot: Natur und Traum. Exh. cat., Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe. Heidelberg, 2012, pp. 101–2 n. 15, fig. 3 (color).
Nathalie Michel-Szelechowska inCamille Corot: Natur und Traum. Exh. cat., Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe. Heidelberg, 2012, pp. 283–84 n. 45, fig. 9 (color).
Sonja Maria Krämer inCamille Corot: Natur und Traum. Exh. cat., Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe. Heidelberg, 2012, p. 24.
Claudia Denk inNatur als Kunst: Frühe Landschaftsmalerei des 19. Jahrhunderts in Deutschland und Frankreich aus der Sammlung der Christoph Heilmann Stiftung im Lenbachhaus München. Heidelberg, 2013, p. 257.
Kathryn Calley Galitz. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Masterpiece Paintings. New York, 2016, p. 431, no. 332, ill. pp. 342, 431 (color).
Sarah Herring. The Nineteenth-Century French Paintings: Volume I, the Barbizon School. Vol. 1, London, 2019, p. 69.
Simon Kelly. Théodore Rousseau and the Rise of the Modern Art Market: An Avant-Garde Landscape Painter in Nineteenth-Century France. London, 2021, p. 85 n. 37.
This is the earliest of Corot's large historical landscapes. When it was exhibited at the Salon of 1835 it became the first of his paintings to receive critical praise. His Saint Jerome (1837; Church of Saint-Nicolas-Saint-Marc, Ville-d'Avray; Robaut 1905, no. 366) is often seen as a pendant, due to its nearly identical size and similar biblical subject matter (see Moreau-Nélaton 1905).
Robaut (1905) notes that the earliest idea for this painting appears in a notebook of about 1833 (Musée du Louvre, Paris; Robaut no. 3097). Studies made at Civita Castellana in 1826–27, during Corot's first trip to Italy (see Robaut nos. 135–140 and 2460A), as well as an oil sketch of the black oaks at Bas-Bréau in Fontainebleau dating to 1832 or 1833 (The Met 1979.404) were also used in making this picture. A smaller oil version of the composition was included in the Renand sale (Hôtel Drouot, Paris, November 20, 1987).
An employee of Corot's mother may have inspired the figure of Hagar, based on an 1830 drawing of her later identified by the artist as "mon Agar" (Louvre; Robaut no. 2652; see Moreau-Nélaton 1905, Baud-Bovy 1957, and Pantazzi 1996).
Robaut states that Corot treated this subject in a cliché-verre of 1873 (see Robaut no. 3207). A lithograph after this painting by Célestin Nanteuil appeared in Le Charivari in 1835.
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