Jean Baptiste Camille Corot  The Quary of Chaise-Marie at Fontaineblue

This work from 1831 by Corot, one of the Barbizon painters, illustrates how the individual study of nature in the open air, as practised by the Romantic painters, was a radical departure from all earlier ideas about landscape painting. In this case, even the medium itself was different: Corot painted this on paper and later mounted it on a canvas. The 'Romantic' Corot concentrated on a small piece of 'nature'. In this case, a quarry in Fontainebleau forest. He tried to 're-create' the forms and hues he perceived (mainly a brownish yellow and a range of murky greens) in paint, using a quick, sketchy technique. Here, Corot has created unity by mixing all the colours with a little grey.