Apple Trees in a Field

c. 1865–70

A majestic apple tree, far too large for picking, fills much of this canvas. The laborers beneath it seem at ease, as if they are posing for the artist rather than actually working the land. Although Corot was influenced by the painters who worked in the village of Barbizon recording rural life, his own images are often poetic evocations of the countryside rather than faithful depictions of a particular scene.

Medium	oil on canvas
Dimensions	16 x 23 15/16 in. (40.7 x 60.8 cm) Frame: 23 1/2 x 31 1/2 x 3 in. (59.7 x 80 x 7.6 cm)
Object Number	1955.548
Acquisition	Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955
Status	Off View

Image Caption

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Apple Trees in a Field, c. 1865–70, oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute, 1955.548

Select Bibliography

Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Five: French Paintings of the 19th Century. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1956. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1970. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1972. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984. Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992. Robaut, Alfred. L'oeuvre de Corot, catalogue raisonné et illustré. Paris: Leonce Laget, 1905. Lees, Sarah, ed. Nineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven and London: distributed by Yale University Press, 2012.

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EUROPEAN PAINTINGS CATALOGUE ENTRY

Provenance

Jaquette; Beugniet (in 1893); Jolly;¹ Robert Sterling Clark (by 1930–55); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955. 1. Jaquette and Beugniet are listed as former owners in Alfred Robaut, L'oeuvre de Corot: Catalogue raisonné et illustré 1905, vol. 3, pp. 278. Beugniet is probably the artist’s supplier and dealer often associated with Barbizon; see Constantin 2001, p. 51. Jolly is listed in Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute 1963, no. 11, but this picture has not been found associated with that name in any relevant sales or other records.