The Storm

A young couple embraces in a storm-swept landscape, their passionate clinch set against dramatically billowing clouds. Cot, a pupil of Alexandre Cabanel and follower of the Academic tradition, painted this theatrical scene as a companion piece to his popular Dawn. The work’s emotional intensity and polished finish made it a favorite with late nineteenth-century audiences, though later critics would dismiss it as sentimental. It remains a vivid example of the Academic narrative tradition at its most emotionally charged.