Macbeth

This is Camille Corot's  Macbeth, paysage (Macbeth, Landscape). The scene is set on the edge of a dense forest, where the figures of Macbeth and Banquo, generals returning from a victorious battle, are barely visible in the shade.

The two men, weary from their campaign, are framed by the looming trees, their silhouettes softened by the fading light of a setting sun.

In stark contrast, the three witches stand out, their forms dark against the bright sky, almost otherworldly. One of the witches, her finger pointed directly at Macbeth, seems to foretell his rise to the throne of Scotland.

This moment, taken directly from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, captures the eerie moment when the witches’ prophecy begins to take shape.

While Shakespeare describes the witches with their fingers pressed to their lips, signaling a quiet, mysterious atmosphere, Corot shows one of them pointing, creating a stronger visual connection between the two groups—Macbeth and Banquo, and the witches.

This slight alteration heightens the drama of the moment, suggesting that the witches are not just observing, but actively guiding Macbeth toward his fate.

The landscape itself is a key player in Corot’s interpretation. The hazy, atmospheric quality of the scene, with soft, diffused light filtering through the trees and touching the clouds, is typical of Corot’s style from the mid-1850s.

His delicate brushwork captures the fleeting effects of the setting sun, the golden light glimmering through the woodland. This sense of light and atmosphere is not just beautiful; it’s revolutionary.

At the time, landscape painting was still dominated by polished, academic techniques. Corot, however, broke away from this tradition, capturing nature’s ephemeral beauty with looser, freer brushstrokes.

When Corot unveiled this painting at the 1859 Paris Salon, it made a significant impact. Among those who came to see it was a young Claude Monet, who was just beginning to experiment with similar techniques of light and color.

This moment marked the beginning of what would become the Impressionist movement, a shift in how artists approached the world around them. Corot’s Macbeth and the Witches would be remembered as a precursor to the dynamic energy of Impressionism.