Advanced Search 
Portrait of a Man
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (French, 1796–1875)
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
34 x 23.8 cm (13 3/8 x 9 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Samuel Dennis Warren
Accession Number91.27
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
A founder of the Barbizon school of landscape painting (a group of painters in the mid-1800s known for their focus on realism), Corot was a staunch advocate for the younger generation of avant-garde painters and a sensitive portraitist of members of his intimate circle. The subject of this portrait has traditionally been identified as the sculptor François Rude, although documentary evidence for this identification is unresolved. Best known as the sculptor for the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, Rude was inducted in 1833 into the French Legion of Honor, France’s highest award for military and civilian service. This sitter wears the legion’s rosette in his lapel.
InscriptionsLower left: COROT
ProvenanceAimé Diot, Paris. By 1883 Samuel Putnam Avery (Sr. or Jr.), New York; 1883, sold by Avery to Vose Galleries, Providence and Boston. Thomas Robinson, Providence [see note 1]; November 16, 1886, Robinson sale, Moore's Art Galleries, New York, lot 202, sold to Vose Galleries, Providence and Boston; 1890, sold by Vose to Mrs. Susan Cornelia Clarke (Mrs. Samuel Dennis) Warren (b. 1825 - d. 1901), Boston; 1891 of Mrs. Warren to the MFA. (Accession date: February 3, 1891)
NOTES:
[1] Robinson was a painter active in the RI area, and sometimes acted as a purchasing agent for Vose.
NOTES:
[1] Robinson was a painter active in the RI area, and sometimes acted as a purchasing agent for Vose.