The Dreamer (Le Songeur)

The Dreamer (Le Songeur) by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, executed in 1854, stands as an important example of the experimental medium known as cliché-verre. This process, often classified as a hybrid of drawing and photography, was highly favored by Corot during the mid-19th century, particularly as an alternative to traditional etching and lithography. The period of 1851 to 1875 marks a transitional moment in French art, where artists sought new ways to quickly reproduce and disseminate their drawings while retaining the spontaneity of the sketch.

To create this piece, Corot drew or etched directly onto a prepared glass plate coated with an opaque substance, such as varnish or collodion. Once finished, the glass plate functioned like a photographic negative, which was then placed over light-sensitive paper and exposed to sunlight. This technique allowed the resulting prints to capture the immediate, fluid qualities of the artist’s hand, giving The Dreamer (Le Songeur) its distinctive, almost ethereal quality. Corot employed the method primarily to translate his delicate plein-air sketches into reproducible works, emphasizing soft transitions of light and shadow achieved through subtle variations in the density of the etched lines on the glass. The resulting image retains the characteristic atmospheric quality of the artist’s best-known works.

Though he is renowned for his oil paintings, Corot produced sixty-six cliché-verre prints during his career, demonstrating his significant commitment to this innovative, short-lived printing method. The work reflects the French shift toward individualized artistic expression and the blurring boundaries between drawing, printmaking, and early photographic practices emerging in the 1850s. This rare print, classified as a fine art print and currently residing in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, offers insight into the technical experimentation undertaken by one of the undisputed masters of 19th-century landscape art.