Souvenir of Bas-Bréau

"Souvenir of Bas-Bréau," created by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (French, 1796-1875) in 1858, is a highly evocative example of the experimental print medium known as the cliché-verre. This innovative technique, translating the spontaneity of a drawing into a photographic print, was particularly popular among artists of the Barbizon School, who often worked near the forest of Fontainebleau in France. To create the image, Corot would draw or scratch directly onto a glass plate coated with collodion, which was then used as a photographic negative to expose sensitized ivory photographic paper.

This hybrid method allowed Corot to achieve the expressive freedom of a sketch while yielding multiple prints. In Souvenir of Bas-Bréau, the composition captures a tranquil, wooded area near the Bas-Bréau section of the forest. The delicate, atmospheric quality of the print is achieved through Corot’s characteristic handling of line, where loose yet purposeful marks suggest dense foliage and subtle shifts in shadow, prioritizing the overall mood of the landscape over meticulous detail.

Corot, primarily celebrated as a painter, embraced cliché-verre during the 1850s and 1860s, producing dozens of prints that explore the technical possibilities of the medium. This significant work is classified within the permanent prints collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. As a key example of 19th-century French graphic arts innovation, the legacy of Corot’s work in cliché-verre continues to influence modern printmaking, and masterworks such as this are often available for educational study through public domain initiatives.