The Pond at the Entrance of the Woods

The Pond at the Entrance of the Woods

Jean Baptiste Camille Corot

This scene of a pond bordered by large, leafy trees echoes Corot's well-known views of Ville-d'Avray, while the vaporous light and atmospheric effects within a restricted palette resemble those of the artist's late style of the 1860s and 1870s. The small forms of the peasant and white goat are also typical of Corot's late imagery. This is one of many views of a large pond at Ville-d'Avray, a small commune on the western suburbs of Paris, where Corot inherited a rural property from his parents.

Colors in this work

Details

Medium
oil on fabric
Dimensions
unframed: height 0.46 m, width 0.61 m
Holding institution
Cleveland Museum of Art
Image provider
cleveland-museum-of-art
License
CC0-1.0
Credit
Bequest of William G. Mather

Art Genome Taxonomy

10 tags

Subject Matter

  • The image presents a wooded landscape organized around a central body of water or watery opening, and the museum catalog identifies it as a pond bordered by large leafy trees.

  • The scene is dominated by atmospheric wooded nature, with trees, foliage, ground, sky, and water; the catalog describes a pond and woods with vaporous light and atmospheric effects.

  • Animals Both · 96%

    A small pale animal is visible at the lower left, and the catalog specifically identifies a white goat among the scene’s small forms.

  • Human Figure Both · 96%

    A tiny human figure appears near the lower right, while the catalog describes one of the small forms as a peasant and lists the subject as male.

Visual Qualities

  • Dark Colors Visual · 98%

    Much of the composition is rendered in deep olive, brown, and gray tones, with dark tree masses and undergrowth dominating the foreground and sides.

  • Earth Tones Visual · 97%

    The visible palette is predominantly composed of muted browns, olive greens, ochers, and related earth colors.

Medium and Techniques

  • Oil Painting Metadata · 99%

    The museum records the medium as oil on fabric.

  • Foliage, ground, and atmospheric passages are built with soft-edged, visibly loose painterly marks rather than sharply delineated detail.

Time Periods

  • 19th Century Art Metadata · 99%

    The museum dates the work to circa 1860–75, placing it within nineteenth-century art.

Geographic Regions

  • French Art Metadata · 99%

    The catalog identifies the artist as French and gives the place of origin as France, nineteenth century.

Source & rights

Jean Baptiste Camille Corot (French, 1796–1875). The Pond at the Entrance of the Woods. Cleveland Museum of Art.

High-resolution sources