About the Work
From an elevated vantage point, the view opens up over a large valley. With muted colours, Camille Corot skilfully created the impression of an autumnal, tranquil landscape.
Corot painted this during his first trip to Italy, probably in November 1827, as is indicated by a dated drawing of the same panorama, which could have been a preliminary sketch. Its inscription also shows that the town of Marino, south of Rome, is shown in the middle ground, which Corot also depicted in the light-flooded painting “View of Marino in the Alban Hills in the Early Morning” (Inv. 1498).
Balanced in structure and chiaroscuro, Corot arranges the overall composition into successive pictorial layers. It is characteristic of his work that he combined this traditional composition with his own naturalistic view. The unspectacular, deserted but atmospheric landscape scene was intended to encourage the viewers to empathise and reflect on themselves.
