Ville d'Avray

Traditional narrative or historical painting would have a landscape in the background, but not necessarily an actual landscape. From the 1830s, however, the modern landscape painting genre was born as an increasing number of painters observed and painted landscapes out of doors. Camille Corot was one of the new genre's pioneers. The town of Ville d'Avray, on the outskirts of Paris, was blessed with a wealth of natural beauty, and Corot painted its landscapes, with its forests and lakes, again and again throughout his career. In this example, light filtered through the trees shines on a dimly lit grass-lined path. Behind the young woman standing in the middle of the path, the brightly lit copse of trees and the blue sky build a contrast between light and dark. On the lower left we are given a slight glimpse, between the trees, of the tranquil surface of a lake. The cow, rendered in reddish-brown, pulls the composition together as a whole.