Landscape with Lake and Boatman

At the 1839 Paris Salon (a state-sponsored exhibition of contemporary art), Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot presented this painting as “Un soir” (An Evening), suggesting that one appreciate it less as a description of a specific site than as a poetic evocation of a time of day. The fading light softly glows through the trees and reflects off the lake while the two figures disembark from their boat at day’s end. This dark sunset scene serves as a contrast to its companion piece, *Italian Landscape*, a sunny, peaceful pastoral. The two paintings depict ideal Italian views that juxtapose different times of day. While the pendant is suffused in soft, hazy morning light, this painting’s evening scene is saturated with an array of colors—yellow, lavender, turquoise, and rose—in the sky and water.Landscape with Lake and Boatman was widely appreciated when it was exhibited at the Salon and many critics praised it in their reviews. Among them, French critic and journalist Théophile Thoré (1807–1869) called this painting a masterpiece for “its quality of line and the gentle harmony of its light.” He said, “M. Corot is an austere, meditative man who sees nature as being the same. He needed no lessons for this. Quite naturally he produces calm, sad paintings, full of thought and lofty in character.”