Jean-Baptiste Corot, The Spring of Life, 1871

by Atelier Liesjes

In a park-like woodland, a young woman stands still, her head bowed, her hands clasped in front of a raised apron. She is wearing a long dress of dull pink silk, with short sleeves and a dark, lace-like trim along the neckline; a white petticoat peeks out from beneath it. In the apron she is holding aloft lies a small bunch of gathered flowers and leaves, and a wreath of green foliage rests upon her head. All around her stand tall, slender trees that fade into the mist; the sky is pearly grey with a faint, pinkish glow. White petals and a few fallen leaves lie on the grass, and to the right the woodland opens out towards a bright distance. Everything in this painting is subordinate to the colour scheme: silver-grey, sage green, ivory white and a single touch of pink. Corot painted the leaves with loose, quivering strokes and softened the edges of the figures, so that the woman seems almost to emerge from the mists of the woodland. The subject matter is simple, but the atmosphere is that of a dreamlike vision: a young woman in the springtime of her life, alone in a landscape that is neither here nor there. Some have indeed seen a Symbolist undertone in this late work, a musing on youth, transience and the passing of the seasons. Jean-Baptiste Corot (Paris 1796 – Ville-d’'Avray 1875) was een van de meest productieve Franse schilders van de negentiende eeuw. Zijn landschappen met hun zilveren licht werden beroemd, maar hij beschouwde zijn figuren, zoals dit meisje, als het intiemste deel van zijn oeuvre. Hij exposeerde op de Salons en bleef tot zijn dood werken in zijn atelier in Parijs en zijn huis in Ville-d'’Avray. This painting reveals that lesser-known, poetic side of him. A tranquil, poetic work for a peaceful living room.