The Eel Gatherers

1860/1865

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Artist, French, 1796 - 1875

Four people wearing earthy brown gather near a stream that runs through a lush forest carpeted and filled with moss, pine, and sage green trees and undergrowth, interlaced with thin, willowy tree trunks in this horizontal landscape painting. The forest fills the composition and the scene is dominated with tones of green, even in the reflections in the water. The stream runs from the lower right corner into the distance near the right side of the canvas. The trees and undergrowth are painted with blended brushstrokes, giving the scene a soft and hazy glow. Near the lower left corner, a woman kneels and helps a baby take a step toward a young girl, who approaches the pair with something gathered and held up in her apron. A boy climbs a tree nearby. A fifth person appears after close inspection, standing in and bending over the stream in the distance to our right. The scene is diffusely lit, with only a few bright spots in the canopy of the trees to suggest sunlight and sky beyond.

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Alfred de Knyff [1819-1885], Paris, by 1878.[1] Erwin Davis, New York;[2] sold 1 May 1893 to (Durand-Ruel et Cie., New York, stock no. 1070, as Les Pêcheurs d'anguilles); sold that same day to Henry Osborn Havemeyer [1847-1907] and his wife, née Louisine Waldron Elder [1855-1929], New York; their daughter, Mrs. P.H.B. Frelinghuysen, née Adaline Havemeyer [1884-1963], Morristown, New Jersey; gift 1943 to NGA.
[1] Lent by de Knyff to Exposition universelle, Paris, 1878, no. 204.
[2] Provenance between de Knyff and Havemeyers is according to Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection, Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1993: 309.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1878

  • Exposition universelle, Paris, 1878, no. 204.

1989

  • Extended loan for use by General Brent Scowcroft, Director, National Security Council, The White House, Washington, D.C., 1989-1993.

1996

  • Corot, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1996-1997, no. 122, as La Rive verte (The Verdant Bank).

2008

  • Corot Souvenirs et variations, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo; Kobe City Museum, 2008, no. 72, repro.

2011

  • Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The National Art Center, Tokyo; Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, 2011, not in catalogue (shown only in Tokyo and Kyoto).

Bibliography

1905

  • Robaut, Alfred, and Etienne Moreau-Nélaton. L'Oeuvre de Corot. Catalogue raisonné et illustré. 5 vols. Paris, 1905: 3:104, no. 1532 bis, repro., as La rive verte.

1931

  • H.O. Havemeyer Collection: Catalogue of Paintings, Prints, Sculpture and Objects of Art. Portland, Maine, 1931: 332.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 30.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 24, repro.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 74, repro.

1982

  • Weitzenhoffer, Frances. "The Creation of the Havemeyer Collection, 1875-1900." Ph.D. dissertation, The City University of New York, 1982: 199, 217, no. 2

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 432, no. 617, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 95, repro.

1993

  • Frelinghuysen, Alice Cooney, et al. Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1993: 309, no. 109.

2000

  • Eitner, Lorenz. French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I: Before Impressionism. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2000: 55-57, color repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: COROT

Wikidata ID

Q20188417

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