Bridge on the Saône River at Mâcon

1834

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

Artist, French, 1796 - 1875

A sand-colored riverbank stretches in front of us to meet an arched bridge that spans a pale blue river to our right in this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is loosely painted so many details are indistinct. A retaining wall extends toward us from the abutment of the bridge, where it meets the land. About halfway along the shore, a group of people painted with a few strokes of gray, pink, brown, and white gather near the water. The bridge continues off the right edge of the painting and reflects in the rippling, pale water below. To our left, a bank of fern green, suggesting grasses or other growth, and some trees line the beach-like riverbank. A line of ivory-colored buildings with pewter-gray roofs extend into the distance to our left beyond the bridge. More buildings and trees along the horizon line in the deep distance are seen through the arches of the bridge to our right. In the top half of the painting, tan-colored brushstrokes lightly sweeping across the blue sky suggest hazy clouds. Two inscriptions have been written in the lower left corner. In brown ink, one reads, “Corot 1834.” Below it, the other is written in pencil: “Corot Pingebat 1834.”

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on paper on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 25 x 33.6 cm (9 13/16 x 13 1/4 in.)
    framed: 48.6 x 56.5 x 6.4 cm (19 1/8 x 22 1/4 x 2 1/2 in.)

  • Accession

    1970.17.22

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Captain Edward H. Molyneux [1891-1974], Paris, by 1952;[1] sold 15 August 1955 to Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969], New York; bequest 1970 to NGA.
[1] The painting was exhibited with the Molyneux collection in New York and Washington in 1952. Sale to Ailsa Mellon Bruce according to her collection notebook, now in NGA archives (copy in NGA curatorial records).

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1952

  • French Paintings from the Molyneux Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1952, unnumbered checklist, repro.

1961

  • French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century from the Collection of Mrs. Mellon Bruce, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1961, no. 15, repro.

1966

  • French Paintings from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, no. 1, repro

1989

  • Impressionisti della National Gallery of Art di Washington, Ala Napoleonica e Museo Correr, Venice; Palazzo Reale, Milan, 1989, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1990

  • Französische Impressionisten und ihre Wegbereiter aus der National Gallery of Art, Washington und dem Cincinnati Art Museum, Neue Pinakothek, Munich, 1990, no. 1, repro.

1996

  • Corot, Courbet und die Maler von Barbizon: Les amis de la nature, Haus der Kunst, Munich, 1996, no. B8, repro.

1997

  • Seurat and The Bathers, The National Gallery, London, 1997, no. 53, pl. 28.

1999

  • Around Impressionism: French Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1999, no cat.

  • Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 2, repro., as River Scene with Bridge.

Bibliography

1956

  • Schoeller, A. and Jean Dieterle. Corot: deuxième supplément à l'oeuvre de Corot par A. Robaut et E. Moreau-Nelaton. Paris, 1956: no. 9.

1966

  • Goldwater, Robert. "The Glory that was France." Art News 65 (March 1966): 40, repro. 44, as Scene with Bridge.

  • Young, Mahonri Sharp. "The Mellon Collections: The Great Years of French Painting." Apollo 83 (June 1966): 426-427, repro.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 78, repro.

1978

  • Small French Paintings from the Bequest of Ailsa Mellon Bruce. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978: 2, repro. (continuing exhibition beginning in 1978).

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 428, no. 614, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 98, repro.

1991

  • Coman, Florence E. Joie de Vivre: French Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1991: no. 1, repro.

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: 37-39, color repro.

Inscriptions

below later inscription, lower left in pencil: Corot Pingebat 1834.; by later hand, lower left in brown ink: Corot 1834

Wikidata ID

Q18178065

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