NARRATOR:
In this beautiful painting by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, the full-figured young woman’s brilliant red bodice contrasts with the cool misty landscape behind her. In Corot’s words:
ACTOR (COROT):
“While I strive for a conscientious imitation, I never for an instant lose the emotion that has taken hold of me. Reality is one part of art; feeling completes it.”
NARRATOR:
A poetic mood unifies this composition. The hazy landscape echoes the woman’s emotional state. She seems lost in reverie. Her deep-set eyes and dropped shoulders evoke pathos. Is she playing her mandolin? Or is she pining about the suitor who played for her?
Corot’s long-delayed success came in the 1860s, with lyrical landscapes like the one in this painting. They display the directness and spontaneity of Impressionism. But the older Corot poeticized nature, generally painting idealized landscapes, with historical, biblical or mythological figures. Corot was both a forerunner of Impressionism and the last representative of a tradition of idealized, historical French landscape that stretches back to the 17th century.
Corot painted this late work when he was in his early seventies. It remained in his own collection until his death in 1875. The meaning of the title—one of the earliest to be attached to the painting—may refer to the thinly painted element sitting atop the figure’s left shoulder.
La Cigale (The Grasshopper)
1865-1875
Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot (French, 1796-1875)
On View
At the end of his life, Corot turned to figure paintings, most often portraying women posed with books or musical instruments in imaginary landscapes. Despite its wooded backdrop, this picture was plainly made in the artist’s studio; the curving outline of a chair back, painted over with greenery, is just visible above the model’s shoulder at right. Pictures of women holding musical instruments and titled La Cigale (The Grasshopper) were common in late-nineteenth-century France. Drawn from La Fontaine’s fable The Grasshopper and the Ant, the title alludes to the fate of one who (like a grasshopper) “sings all summer” instead of preparing (like an ant) for the hardships of winter. By Corot’s time, La Cigale had become a metaphor for the beautiful bohème: one who lives with no thought for the future.
Details
- Artist Name: Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot (French, 1796-1875)
- Title: La Cigale (The Grasshopper)
- Date: 1865-1875
- Medium: Oil on panel
- Dimensions: 18-1/4 x 14-5/8 in. (46.4 x 37.2 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation
- Accession Number: M.1975.13.1.P
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Art Foundation
Object Information
Robaut says “Vente X, 1877 for Ff 1,200" to;
"Perreau.”
Victor Desfossés by 1889 (sale, Paris, 26 April 1899, no. 18, for Ff 10,100, to);
[Durand-Ruel et Cie, Paris and New York, sold 5 May 1926 to];
Carl Weeks, Des Moines, Iowa (sale, New York, Sotheby’s, 26 October 1967, lot 18, to);
Mr. and Mrs. Norton Simon, Los Angeles, as part of divorce settlement, 1970, to;
Lucille Ellis Simon, Los Angeles;
[Paul Rosenberg & Co., New York, sold 14 August 1975 to];
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
"Perreau.”
Victor Desfossés by 1889 (sale, Paris, 26 April 1899, no. 18, for Ff 10,100, to);
[Durand-Ruel et Cie, Paris and New York, sold 5 May 1926 to];
Carl Weeks, Des Moines, Iowa (sale, New York, Sotheby’s, 26 October 1967, lot 18, to);
Mr. and Mrs. Norton Simon, Los Angeles, as part of divorce settlement, 1970, to;
Lucille Ellis Simon, Los Angeles;
[Paul Rosenberg & Co., New York, sold 14 August 1975 to];
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
[on loan]
- Phoenix, Phoenix Art Museum, 1975-08-08 to 1975-12-01
- Art at Auction 1967-68, pp. 120-121
- Morse, John D., Old Master Paintings in North America,1979, p. 62
- Norton, Thomas E., 100 Years of Collecting in America: The Story of Sotheby Parke-Bernet, pp. 186-187
- Zimmerman, Antje, Studien zum Figurenbild bei Corot,pl. 47 p. 352
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum,1989, p. 114
- Robaut, Alfred, L'Oeuvre de Corot: Catalogue raisonné et illustré,no. 1566
- Brettell, Richard R. and Stephen F. Eisenman, Nineteenth-Century Art in the Norton Simon Museum, volume 1,2006,
- Bernheim de Villers, Corot: Peintre de figures,no. 266
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best,2010, cat. 390 p. 292
- The Burlington Magazine, p. 28
- New York Times, p. 43
Additional Artwork by Artist
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