M. Le Marquis de Verpiellière
Sale: Christie's, New York, April 19, 2006, lot 80, illustrated

Alfred Robaut, L'Oeuvre de Corot, Catalogue raisonné et illustré, Paris, 1965, vol. II, pp. 232-233, no. 677, illustrated

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This painting has been restored quite recently and could be hung in its current condition. The canvas is unlined. The tacking edges may have been reinforced, but the canvas is in very good condition structurally. The paint layer is clean and lightly varnished. Under ultraviolet light one can see a few tiny dots of retouch in isolated spots around the edges in the sky and in a few small spots in the reminder of the sky. In the landscape and foreground, hardly any retouches appear to have been added at all, and this is clearly a picture in very fresh condition, which can be hung as is.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Painted in 1851.

Following the death of his mother in February 1851, Corot travelled extensively through northern France, visiting Arras, Brittany and Normandy.   In July he arrived in La Rochelle where he stayed for three weeks painting with his friends Brizard and Comairas.   He then returned to Paris with one oil painting, Vue du port de La Rochelle (Yale University Art Gallery) and several oil studies, all painted en plein air.   This group of La Rochelle images is considered t💙o be amongst the most impressionistic of Corot's oeuvre.    

In 1918 Pierre-August Renoir saw Corot's La Rochelle studies and commented to the art dealer René Gimpel: "There you have the greatest genius of the century, the greatest landscape artist who had ever lived.   He was called a poet.  What a misnomer!   He was a naturalist.   I have studied ceaselessly without ever being able to approach his art.   I have often gone to the places where he painted: Venice, La Rochelle, ah what trouble they've given me!  It was his fault, Corot's, that I wanted to emulate him.   The towers of La Rochelle – he got the colour of the stones exactly, and I could never do it" (Gimpel, Journal D'Un Collectionneur, Paris, 1963, entry for March 20, 1918, p. 28)✤.