Jean Baptiste Camille Corot Attr.: Barbizon Countryside

Jean Baptiste Camille Corot (French, 1796-1875) Attributed: Une Rue Du Village, 1895. Oil on canvas, signed lower left, framed. Une Rue Du Village is listed as #2014 in the Catalogue Raisonne authored by Alfred Robaut in 1965. The entry mentions that there are three versions of this image: One by Corot; One by Corot's student named Mention; One by Corot's student named Demure. The current locations of these paintings is unknown.

Photographs of this painting was examined by Mme. Claire Lebeau, an expert on Corot. Mme. Lebeau dismissed it as perhaps the work of the student Demure, citing awkward passages in the composition. However, the painting has subsequently been examined by several methods which have revealed that the left portion has been heavily overpainted during restoration. Also, infrared transmission photography revealed some changes to the unrestored section of the canvas. In particular, a house which was part of the underpainting, on the right side of the painting, was turned into a tree. Such a change would not have been made by a copyist. This revelation leads us to believe that this painting is the original work of Corot.