The son of a Parisian shopkeeper, the young Corot was hired as a salesman by a cloth merchant, despite his evident gift for drawing. Clearly lacking an aptitude for business, he was already twenty-six when his father gave him an allowance so that he could devote himself entirely to his vocation.

Studying with A. Michallon, with whom he painted his first landscapes in the Forest of Fontainebleau, and then with Victor Bertin, he took his first trip to Italy in 1825. There he enjoyed the friendship of Caruelle d’Aligny and Edouard Bertin who shared his passion for painting from nature. On his return three years later, he adopted a pattern of work, which he maintained throughout his life, of painting in his Paris studio during the winter and devoting the summer to traveling in France, interrupted by frequent visits to Ville d’Avray, Chailly and Barbizon.

The souvenirs which he brought back from his various travels in the French provinces and abroad served as an example for many landscape artists, particularly for his students, Chintreuil, F.L. Francais and Harpignies.   An associate of all the Barbizon painters, he became particularly friendly with Daubigny and, from the summer of 1852, they often traveled and worked together.

Even if Corot cannot truly be regarded as a painter of the Barbizon School, his love for nature, his tireless search to render its slightest nuances, and his taste for working en plein air made him the perfect precursor. Ill with gout from 1866, Corot nevertheless continued traveling and painting. At his death at the age of 78 he was one of the most revered and respected artists in France.

Museum collections include:

• The Musee d’ Orsay, Paris, France;
• National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC;
• High Museum, Atlanta, GA;
• Baltimore Museum of Art; Baltimore, MD;
• New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA;
• Frick Collection, New York, NY;
• Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia;
• State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia;
• National Gallery, London, UK;
• Public Art Collection, Basel, Switzerland;
• Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, Portugal;
• Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia