Beach near Etretat

c. 1872

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Artist, French, 1796 - 1875

Moss-green land rising to a tree-topped bluff follows the curve of a sandy beach surrounding a pale blue cove in this horizontal landscape painting. The hill and olive-green trees take up most of the height of the left side of the composition. The beach curves from the lower right corner back and to our left, and curves around the cliff face of the bluff. Closest to us, the land is flecked with saffron gold, and two dark brown patches smear the sand. The beach or a sandbar creates a strip of pale brown across the horizon, which comes halfway up the canvas. Distant hills to our left are suggested by a battleship-gray slope. The slate-blue sky above is layered with swirls and bands of oyster-white and pewter-gray clouds. The artist signed the lower left, “COROT.”

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 91

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 12.3 x 25.5 cm (4 13/16 x 10 1/16 in.)
    framed: 25.4 x 38.1 x 3.2 cm (10 x 15 x 1 1/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1970.17.117

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

F. Stumpf, Paris; (Stumpf sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris 27 November 1894, no. 19, as Marine); purchased by (F. and J. Tempelaere, Paris).[1] Aimé Diot [d. 1896], Paris; (his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 8 March 1897, no. 35, as Falaises). Nicolas Auguste Hazard [1834-1913], Paris; (Hazard sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 3 December 1919, no. 91, as La Plage); purchased by Rosenthal, Paris; (Rosenthal sale, Paris, 9 May 1934, no. 67); purchased by Dr. George Viau [1855-1939], Paris; (his estate sale, part I, 11 December 1942, no. 81).[2] Baron Pellenc, Paris, in 1944. André Schoëller [1879-1955], Paris, in 1945.[3] Captain Edward H. Molyneux [1891-1974], Paris, by 1952;[4] sold 1955 to Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969], New York; bequest 1970 to NGA.
[1] Letter from Jean Dieterle, peintre-expert, dated 11 September 1970, in NGA curatorial files, gives Tempelaere as purchaser.
[2] According to press reports and an annotated sales catalogue, copy in NGA curatorial records, the picture sold for 560,000 francs to an unnamed purchaser.
[3] Pellenc and Schoeller per Dieterle letter cited in note 1. Schoeller acted as expert at the 1942 Viau sale.
[4] Exhibited in French Paintings from the Molyneux Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1952.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1952

  • French Paintings from the Molyneux Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1952, unnumbered checklist, as Seascape -- Arromanches.

1956

  • Hampton National Historic Site, Towson, MD, May - October 1956

1958

  • Paintings from the Collection of Mrs. Mellon Bruce, Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, 1958, no. 26, as Seascape-Arromanches

1961

  • French Paintings from the Collection of Mrs. Mellon Bruce, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1961, no. 14, repro., as Seascape-Arromanches

1978

  • Small French Paintings from the Bequest of Ailsa Mellon Bruce. Exh. Cat. National Gallery of Art, 1978:4, repro. (continuing exhibition beginning in 1978)

1982

  • Manet and Modern Paris, National Gallery of Art, 1982-1983, no. 58, repro.

1989

  • Impressionisti della National Gallery of Art di Washington, Ala Napoleonica e Museo Correr, Venice; Palazzo Reale, Milan, 1989, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Bibliography

1905

  • Robaut, Alfred, and Etienne Moreau-Nélaton. L'Oeuvre de Corot. Catalogue raisonné et illustré. 5 vols. Paris, 1905: 3:270, no. 2076, repro., as Une plage avec des barques au loin sur la mer (Normandie)

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 80, repro.

1978

  • Small French Paintings from the Bequest of Ailsa Mellon Bruce. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978: 4, repro. (continuing exhibition beginning in 1978).

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 99, repro.

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: 92-94, color repro.

Inscriptions

lower left: COROT

Wikidata ID

Q20188743

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