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The Young Woman of Albano (L'Albanaise)

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

European Art

Along with 42.195, this painting of a pale, contemplative young woman dressed in garments that conjure past times or distant places exemplifies Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot’s practice as a figure painter. In this painting, a favorite model, Emma Dobigny, reclines in a theatrical “gypsy” costume, while a trio of maidens in the background dance or perhaps engage in a physical contest reflecting the athleticism for which ancient Sparta was renowned. The other portrays the model Mlle Darmelas wearing the traditional attire of the Italian town of Albano and gazing pensively into space. For Corot such costumes were interchangeable referents for imagined worlds, as well as opportunities to explore color, pattern, and texture in delicate touches of paint.
MEDIUM Oil on canvas
  • Place Made: Europe
  • DATES 1872
    DIMENSIONS 29 3/16 x 25 13/16 in. (74.1 x 65.6 cm) Frame: 36 x 32 in.  (show scale)
    SIGNATURE Signed lower left: "COROT"
    COLLECTIONS European Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 42.196
    CREDIT LINE Gift of Mrs. Horace O. Havemeyer
    PROVENANCE May 26-28, 1875, possibly purchased from the artist's estate at Hôtel Drouot, Paris by M. Detriment; before 1893, provenance not yet documented; 1893, purchased from either Fop Smit or H. Vever by Durand-Ruel, Paris; November 16, 1893, purchased from Durand-Ruel, Paris by Durand-Ruel, New York; November 14, 1894, purchased from Durand-Ruel, New York by Henry Osborne Havemeyer and Louisine Waldron Elder Havemeyer; 1929, inherited from Louisine Havemeyer by Horace Havemeyer and Doris A. Dick Havemeyer; June 10, 1942, gift of Doris Havemeyer to the Brooklyn Museum.
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    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (Paris, France, 1796–1875, Paris, France). The Young Woman of Albano (L'Albanaise), 1872. Oil on canvas, 29 3/16 x 25 13/16 in. (74.1 x 65.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mrs. Horace O. Havemeyer, 42.196 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 42.196_PS9.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 42.196_PS9.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2015
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