Souvenir of Bas-Bréau

Souvenir of Bas-Bréau, created by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot French, 1796-1875 in 1858, is a significant example of early photographic printmaking. This evocative landscape was executed using the specialized technique of cliché-verre on ivory photographic paper. The medium allowed the artist to blend the direct, spontaneous quality of drawing with the reproducibility and tonal range afforded by early photography.

The cliché-verre process, popular among the Barbizon artists in France during the mid-19th century, involved coating a glass plate with an opaque layer and etching or drawing directly into the surface using a stylus. Corot then used this prepared glass plate as a photographic negative, exposing it onto sensitized paper. The resulting image retains the characteristic atmospheric sensibility of Corot’s work, emphasizing the delicate interplay of light and dense foliage typical of the Bas-Bréau area near the Forest of Fontainebleau.

While known primarily for his oil paintings, the artist produced a substantial body of prints using this innovative medium, valuing the intimacy and speed it afforded in capturing sylvan scenes. The subtle variations in tone visible in this print capture the quiet solitude often sought by the Romantic landscape movement. As a key Print in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, Souvenir of Bas-Bréau offers important insight into the technical innovations occurring in 19th-century French art. This work demonstrates the period’s blurring boundaries between drawing and mechanical reproduction, ensuring that Corot’s contributions to graphic arts remain widely appreciated, often entering the sphere of public domain accessibility.