Pond at Ville-d’Avray

Silver-green foliage arches over the still water of a pond as a figure in soft light stands by the bank. Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot painted the subject in the late 1860s, when his quiet lakeside views of Ville-d’Avray, where he lived, had become among the most beloved landscapes of the century. The misty tonal harmony, the feathery touch of the trees and the almost intangible atmosphere are the signature of his old age, at once deeply observed and memorized, and they made him the most revered landscapist of his generation.