Gypsy Woman with Mandolin

c. 1870

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Artist, French, 1796 - 1875

Shown from the shins up, a woman with medium-toned skin plays a mandolin in this loosely painted vertical composition. The woman’s body faces us but her head tips to our left and she looks down in that direction with dark eyes. She has a short nose, and her full lips are closed over a rounded chin. Her brown hair falls loosely around her shoulders and is covered by a pumpkin-orange head cloth. Glints at her ears suggest earrings. She wears a beige jacket with puffy, voluminous sleeves over a shell-pink shirt with a high, ruffled collar above a red band. A rose-pink sash is tied around her waist and falls down the front of her long, beige skirt, and red cloth hangs along her right side, to our left. She holds a mandolin in both hands. The background is painted with dabs and mottled tones of earth green, golden brown, and muted blue and white for the sky. Brushstrokes are visible or blended throughout and are especially broad in the clothing and background. The artist signed the lower left corner, “COROT.”

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Count Cecil Pecci-Blunt

  • Dimensions

    overall: 63.5 x 50.8 cm (25 x 20 in.)
    framed: 87 x 75.6 x 9.5 cm (34 1/4 x 29 3/4 x 3 3/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1951.21.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist; (his estate sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 26 May 1875, no. 186, as Bohémienne debout jouant de la guitare); purchased by Klotz, Paris.[1] Jules Paton, Paris; (his sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 24 April 1883, no. 45, as Bohémienne jouant de la guitare); (Galerie Georges Petit, Paris); sold 1900 to Frederick C. Hewitt [d. 1908] and William Francklyn Paris [d. 1954]; (their joint sale, American Art Association, New York, 9-10 March 1910, no. 172, as Girl with a Mandolin); purchased by John Fenning.[2] Ferdinand Blumenthal [d. 1914], Paris.[3] Count Cecil Pecci-Blunt [d. 1965], New York and Paris, by 1946;[4] gift 1951 to NGA.
[1] Annotated sale catalogue in M. Knoedler library. [2] Annotated sale catalogue in M. Knoedler library. [3] According to 1946 Philadelphia exhibition catalogue. [4]Lent by Pecci-Blunt to 1946 Corot exhibition in Philadelphia.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1928

  • Exposition d'oeuvres de Camille J.-B. Corot (1796-1875): Figures et paysages d'Italie au profit de la Bibliothèque d'art et d'archéologie de l'Université de Paris, Galerie Rosenberg, Paris, 1928, no. 45.

1946

  • Corot, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1946, no. 54, repro.

1999

  • Around Impressionism: French Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1999, no catalogue.

  • Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 4, repro.

Bibliography

1905

  • Robaut, Alfred, and Etienne Moreau-Nélaton. L'Oeuvre de Corot. Catalogue raisonné et illustré. 5 vols. Paris, 1905: 3:no. 1556, repro.

1930

  • Bernheim de Villers, C. Corot, peintre de figures. Paris, 1930: 63, no. 250, repro. (the painting before changes in the background).

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 30.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 23, repro.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 76, repro.

1978

  • King, Marian. Adventures in Art: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1978: 41, pl. 19.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 428, no. 609, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 95, repro.

1990

  • Panush, Rachel B., Jacques R. Caldwell and Richard S. Panush. "Corot's 'Gout' and a 'Gipsy [sic] Girl,'" The Journal of the American Medical Association 264, no. 9 (September 1990): 1136-1138, color repro. on cover.

2000

  • Eitner, Lorenz. French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I: Before Impressionism. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2000: 81-85, color repro.

Inscriptions

lower left: COROT

Wikidata ID

Q18178040

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