GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The Bath of Diana dates from 1855, a highpoint in Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot's career when his works were greatly admired at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. Celebrated by the public and critics alike, Corot was particularly praised for his poetic and harmonious compositions. Included in the Exposition was a larger version of the present picture, The Company of Diana, Impression of Morning, which was purchased in 1858 by the Musée des Beaux Arts in Bordeaux. A reprisal of that larger painting, The Bath of Diana was presumably commissioned by the French dealers Cadart and Luquet for an eager collector in Toulouse. Indeed, the impact and popularity of Corot's Salon pictures prompted a frenzy of commissions from prominent collectors.
In this painting, Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt, bathes in a river, accompanied by the nymphs and dogs that were her constant companions. In this dreamlike landscape populated by mythological figures, Corot uses a muted palette of greens, grays, and browns to depict the forms of trees, rocks, and hills. Though the scene of Diana at her bath was often treated as an erotic subject, here the diminuitive nudes appear lightly immaterial, even chaste.
Adapted from
- Dorothy Kosinski, DMA Acquisition proposal (2005.15.FA), January 26, 2005
- Heather MacDonald, DMA Label copy (2005.15.FA), October 2010
NOTES
Reviewed TMS object record
Reviewed Education file for Corot
Reviewed the object file but did not thoroughly review the file for additional provenance information.
Searched Piction for Corot.
Added as a former title (in French)- Bain de Diane, Effet de matin- used in Documentation from the dealer. (Presumably this was to link the painting to the larger version in Bordeaux?)
Added Toulouse as a geography based on a much earlier D3C draft completed for Maillol's Flora. This approach to geographies (intended for utilitarian objects) may not be useful in the distant future if provenance can be entered with geolocation information. For now, this appears to be the easiest way to record the original, intended, commissioning site for an artwork.
TMS object record includes attached media- Letter from The Art Loss Register, Inc., NYC to Salander-O'Reilly Galleries verifying the work is not in their records as a lost item. Letter dated, December 23, 2004. Does not need to be indicated as part of a footnote in provenance according to Nicole Myers.
In the future, I may create a constituent record for Diana and then link to this work as the depicted individual. (This will enable a brief explanation of who Diana is and connect the various depictions of her in the collection.)
Removed an example of contemporary criticism- The critic Perrier described it as 'a miracle of beauty and expression'. He continued, "What can one say about this sunrise that, reflected with so much veracity and especially so much charm in the crystal of the stream and the leaves of the trees, sheds the most mellow and most poetic harmony over the entire painting? What can one say of those nymphs who in their giddy play flaunt bodies damp with multi-colored pearls, and who equal in beauty, grace, and freshness the radiant forms that appear only in the golden dreams of twenty-year-old poets?" [Corot (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996), 237.]
Too long for a "brief" descriptive text, but if needed, the full name of the 1855 Expo. Univ. is the Exposition Universelle des produits de l'Agriculture, de l'Industrie et des Beaux-Arts de Paris 1855.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Place of origin: Paris (France): TGN: 7008038
Used in: Toulouse (France): TGN: 7008441
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Depicted individual- Diana (Roman deity)
Napoleon III
Subject terms
bathers
Diana
dogs
landscape
nudes
drapery (representation)
trees
leaves
hills
lakes
women
reflections (optical)
sunrise
sky
clouds
shore
swimming
composition
foreground
mythology
green
gray
brown
palette
nymphs
salon paintings
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
AUDIO ASSETS
Gallery talk- 6/8/2016- Nicole Myers- French Landscape Painting from Realism to Post-Impressionism
Object number appears in Piction cataloguing for this recording. 267025377: UMO
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Apply to objects where number equals 2005.15.FA
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General Description
The Bath of Diana dates from 1855, a highpoint in Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot's career when his works were greatly admired at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. Celebrated by the public and critics alike, Corot was particularly praised for his poetic and harmonious compositions. Included in the Exposition was a larger version of the present picture, The Company of Diana, Impression of Morning, which was purchased in 1858 by the Musée des Beaux Arts in Bordeaux. A reprisal of that larger painting, The Bath of Diana was presumably commissioned by the French dealers Cadart and Luquet for an eager collector in Toulouse. Indeed, the impact and popularity of Corot's Salon pictures prompted a frenzy of commissions from prominent collectors.
In this painting, Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt, bathes in a river, accompanied by the nymphs and dogs that were her constant companions. In this dreamlike landscape populated by mythological figures, Corot uses a muted palette of greens, grays, and browns to depict the forms of trees, rocks, and hills. Though the scene of Diana at her bath was often treated as an erotic subject, here the diminuitive nudes appear lightly immaterial, even chaste.
Adapted from
- Dorothy Kosinski, DMA Acquisition proposal (2005.15.FA), January 26, 2005
- Heather MacDonald, DMA Label copy (2005.15.FA), October 2010
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
Reviewed TMS object record
Reviewed Education file for Corot
Reviewed the object file but did not thoroughly review the file for additional provenance information.
Searched Piction for Corot.
Added as a former title (in French)- Bain de Diane, Effet de matin- used in Documentation from the dealer. (Presumably this was to link the painting to the larger version in Bordeaux?)
Added Toulouse as a geography based on a much earlier D3C draft completed for Maillol's Flora. This approach to geographies (intended for utilitarian objects) may not be useful in the distant future if provenance can be entered with geolocation information. For now, this appears to be the easiest way to record the original, intended, commissioning site for an artwork.
TMS object record includes attached media- Letter from The Art Loss Register, Inc., NYC to Salander-O'Reilly Galleries verifying the work is not in their records as a lost item. Letter dated, December 23, 2004. Does not need to be indicated as part of a footnote in provenance according to Nicole Myers.
In the future, I may create a constituent record for Diana and then link to this work as the depicted individual. (This will enable a brief explanation of who Diana is and connect the various depictions of her in the collection.)
Removed an example of contemporary criticism- The critic Perrier described it as 'a miracle of beauty and expression'. He continued, "What can one say about this sunrise that, reflected with so much veracity and especially so much charm in the crystal of the stream and the leaves of the trees, sheds the most mellow and most poetic harmony over the entire painting? What can one say of those nymphs who in their giddy play flaunt bodies damp with multi-colored pearls, and who equal in beauty, grace, and freshness the radiant forms that appear only in the golden dreams of twenty-year-old poets?" [Corot (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996), 237.]
Too long for a "brief" descriptive text, but if needed, the full name of the 1855 Expo. Univ. is the Exposition Universelle des produits de l'Agriculture, de l'Industrie et des Beaux-Arts de Paris 1855.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Place of origin: Paris (France): TGN: 7008038
Used in: Toulouse (France): TGN: 7008441
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Depicted individual- Diana (Roman deity)
Napoleon III
Subject terms
bathers
Diana
dogs
landscape
nudes
drapery (representation)
trees
leaves
hills
lakes
women
reflections (optical)
sunrise
sky
clouds
shore
swimming
composition
foreground
mythology
green
gray
brown
palette
nymphs
salon paintings
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
AUDIO ASSETS
Gallery talk- 6/8/2016- Nicole Myers- French Landscape Painting from Realism to Post-Impressionism
Object number appears in Piction cataloguing for this recording. 267025377: UMO
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
2005.15.FA
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object_notes_2_a-0507.xml.nores