“Ville-d’Avray”
“Ville-d’Avray” is an oil on canvas painting by the French artist of the Barbizon school, Camille Corot, from circa 1865.
Corot inherited a property from his parents in the French town of Ville-d’Avray, just west of Paris. This location was a refuge from the city. It contained a house and large pond which Corot painted many times. As such, many of his works contain “Ville-d’Avray” in the title. Today, the area is within the western suburbs of Paris.
In this piece, Corot depicts a view of his pond and house in a leisurely scene. In the foreground, a woman stands near the water’s edge carrying a bundle on her back. To the right, a man is seated with his back to the viewer, fishing in the pond.
This is one of Corot’s later works. His style is increasingly impressionistic, though his color palette remains much more subdued. There is a softness to the brushstrokes and an overall hazy glow to the light.
“Ville-d’Avray” is currently in the collections of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. in the United States.
For more on Camille Corot, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
