ID: 700008344 Page link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/cona/700008344	Record Type: Movable Work

Fontainebleau, Figure Leaning Against a Rock (drawing (visual work); Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (French, 1796 - 1875) (French Ar...; about 1830 - 1835; J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles, Los A...; 2010.22)

Note: The drawing depicts a clearing in a forest (most likely the Forest of Fontainebleau) encircled by large boulders of varying heights; the largest boulder, at right, and the pile of smaller boulders to its immediate left are rendered in brown wash. Several slender, delicately drawn trees grow among the boulders, the largest one emerging from a gap between two low boulders just left of center; the trunks, but only a few of the branches, are highlighted with wash. At left, a small male figure in what appears to be medieval troubadour dress leans against a rock and gazes upward with a melancholy expression. The rock he leans against is rendered more loosely and summarily, in ink and pencil only; it and the smaller rocks in the lower foreground have far less physical presence and three-dimensionality than the ones touched with wash. The trees' foliage is similarly wispy and lightly sketched. With the exception of the figure, the drawing is characterized by the simplification of forms, sometimes verging on abstraction.Most of Corot's drawings are autonomous works, unrelated to his paintings or prints. The present work is apparently no exception and belongs to a group of drawings made between two of Corot's sojourns in Italy, when he sketched frequently sur le motif in the Forest of Fontainebleau. In these drawings he combined the lessons learned in his 1825-1828 stay in Italy with a spirit of experimentation unequalled in the rest of his career. They are transitional works that bridge the two parts of his oeuvre that are best known: the sharply observed plein-air landscapes of Italy and the dreamy, idealized tonal landscapes which dominated his work after 1850. The use of wash is a practice that had all but died out by the time of Corot's first trip to Italy and had been replaced by the use of parallel hatching to indicate light and shadow; in this drawing he combines both techniques to unusual effect, attesting to his interest in the relationship between line and tone. The method of drawing in pencil and then reworking it in pen and ink is one he likely learned in Rome, possibly from Théodore Caruelle d'Aligny, who was an important mentor during his first stay.

Titles:

Fontainebleau, Figure Leaning Against a Rock (preferred,C,U,RP,English-P,U,U)

Forest Clearing with Figure Leaning Against a Rock (C,U,English,U,U)

Catalog Level: item

Work Types:

drawing (visual work) [300033973] (preferred)

..... (Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), visual works (works), <visual works by material or technique>)

Classifications:

drawings (preferred)

Creation Date: about 1830 - 1835

Creator Display:

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (French, 1796 - 1875) (French Artist) [preferred,JPGM]

Corot, Jean Baptiste Camille (French painter and draftsman, 1796-1875) [500115390]

Locations:

Current: J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles, Los Angeles county, California, United States) [500329598] J. Paul Getty Museum, J. Paul Getty Trust, Corporate Bodies (Corp. Body)

Repository Numbers: 2010.22

Other: Creation: France [1000070] Europe (continent), World (facet) (Geographic)

Display Materials: Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash over pencil on paper

	pens (drawing and writing implements) [300022452]
	.......(Objects Facet, Furnishings and Equipment (hierarchy name), Tools and Equipment (hierarchy name), equipment, <equipment by process>, image-making equipment, <equipment for drafting| drawing| and writing>, <drafting| drawing and writing equipment by specific type>)

	ink [300015012]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by function>, coating (material), <coating by form>)

	wash (material) [300011051]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by function>, coating (material), <coating by form>)

	pencils (drawing and writing equipment) [300022439]
	.......(Objects Facet, Furnishings and Equipment (hierarchy name), Tools and Equipment (hierarchy name), equipment, <equipment by process>, image-making equipment, <equipment for drafting| drawing| and writing>, <drafting| drawing and writing equipment by specific type>)

	paper (fiber product) [300014109]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by form>, <materials by physical form>, <fiber and fiber by product>, <fiber by product>)

	brushes (implements) [300024760]
	.......(Objects Facet, Furnishings and Equipment (hierarchy name), Tools and Equipment (hierarchy name), equipment, <equipment by process>, <surface working and finishing equipment>, <surface working and finishing tools and accessories>)

Dimensions: 28.7 x 44.9 cm (11 5/16 x 17 11/16 in.)

Cultures:

French (preferred)

General Subject:

landscapes (preferred)

Specific Subjects:

	man (male human) [300025928]
	.....(Agents Facet, People (hierarchy name), people (agents), <people by gender or sex>) (AAT)

	boulders [300011671]
	.....(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by composition>, inorganic material, rock (inorganic material), <rock by form>) (AAT)

	landscape (representation) [300015636]
	.....(Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), visual works (works), <visual works by subject type>) (AAT)

	rock (inorganic material) [300011692]
	.....(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by composition>, inorganic material) (AAT)

List/Hierarchical Position:

..... Movable Works

.......... Movable Works by class: drawings, paintings, prints, other two-dimensional media

Sources and Contributors:
Fontainebleau, Figure Leaning Against a Rock	........ [JPGM,VP]
	........ J. Paul Getty Museum database for collections (2000-)
Forest Clearing with Figure Leaning Against a Rock	........ [JPGM]
	........ J. Paul Getty Museum database for collections (2000-)

Subject: ....... [JPGM,VP]

Note:
English	..... [JPGM,VP]
	..... J. Paul Getty Museum database for collections (2000-)