Artwork
Madame Stumpf and Her Daughter
Madame Stumpf and Her Daughter is an oil painting by the Impressionist artist Jean Baptiste Camille Corot. It dates from 1872 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot painted *Madame Stumpf and Her Daughter* in 1872. Executed in oil on canvas, the work presents a mother and child positioned on a rural path framed by trees. The figures are rendered with a gentle, atmospheric quality that reflects Corot’s late style, situated between classical portraiture and the nascent Impressionist approach.
Subject & Meaning
The composition features a woman in a long blue dress, holding a parasol and a flower, alongside her young daughter dressed in white with a pink shawl. Both figures stand on a dirt track within a wooded setting, suggesting a quiet, domestic moment outdoors. The inclusion of the parasol and floral motif underscores a sense of genteel leisure.
Technique & Style
Corot employs delicate brushwork and subtle tonal shifts to model the figures, allowing light to glide across the fabrics and foliage. The blue dress is highlighted by lace trim, while the pink shawl adds a soft contrast to the daughter’s white dress. The overall palette is muted, creating a serene, almost misty ambience characteristic of Corot’s later portraiture.
History & Provenance
Created toward the end of Corot’s career, the painting reflects his transition from the Neoclassical tradition toward the looser handling later associated with Impressionism. While specific ownership records are limited, the work remains attributed to Corot and is catalogued among his late portrait series produced in the early 1870s.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (UK: KORR-oh, US: kə-ROH, kor-OH; French: ; 16 July 1796 – 22 February 1875), or simply Camille Corot, was a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching.
