It is likely that Corot painted this small oil sketch on paper in the spring of 1826, a few months after beginning his first of three trips to Italy. He painted a number of views that included the Aqua Claudia, a Roman aqueduct, which you can see in the distance, around five kilometres south-east of Rome. The square tower almost in the centre of the picture is the Tor Fiscale, a medieval defence tower. The Alban Hills can be seen on the right, and the Monti Prenestini on the left. The River Almone flows in the mid-distance, behind the trees.
Corot used a limited range of colours to create an open sunlit landscape beneath a blue sky filled with bright cumulus clouds. Despite the picture’s very small size, he has created an effect of expansive space with very economical means, as areas of colour, laid down with thin paint, are given definition and scale by details such as the trees and architecture.
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Sarah Herring, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Nineteenth Century French Paintings’, vol. 1, ‘The Barbizon School’, London 2019; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
J. Jullien and R. Jullien, 'Corot Dans Les Castelli Romani', Gazette des Beaux-Arts, CXX1X, Paris October 1987
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
N. Spinosa (ed.), Omaggio a Capodimonte (exh. cat., Museo di Capodimonte, Naples), Naples 2007
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
