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The
son of a Parisian shopkeeper, the young Corot
was hired as a salesman by a cloth merchant,
despite his evident gift for drawing. Clearly
lacking an aptitude for business, he was already
twenty-six when his father gave him an allowance
so that he could devote himself entirely to
his vocation. Studying with A. Michallon, with
whom he painted his first landscapes in the
Forest of Fontainebleau, then with Victor Bertin,
he took his first trip to Italy in 1825.
There he enjoyed the friendship of Caruelle
d'Aligny and Edouard Bertin who shared his passion
for painting from nature. On his return three
years later he adopted a pattern of work, which
he maintained throughout his life, of painting
in his Paris studio during the winter and devoting
the summer to travelling in France, interrupted
by frequent visits to Ville d'Avray, Chailly
and Barbizon.
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