This watercolor has traditionally been seen as a study for corot's painting "saint sebastian succored by holy women," (walters 37. 192) but the composition has a sense of completeness that suggests it is in fact a later variant. The watercolor is also more slender than the painting, while the foliage at left has been reduced and the rise of land to the right eliminated. Corot very rarely worked in watercolor, preferring pencil and pen and ink in his early linear drawings and charcoal in his later, more tonal works. Although corot produced few watercolors, he displays in "saint sebastian," a mastery of the medium. He built up his surfaces with layers of diaphanous washes of grays and browns, while his muted tones, comparable to those in his late paintings, are offset by touches of brighter color, such as the green leaves of the foliage, the yellow of the distant ground, and the pinks of the foreground figures. Corot retains the arched format of the original painting composition. Date: circa 1867. Place of creation: France. Dimensions: height: 25 cm (9.8 in); width: 13.9 cm (5.4 in). Medium: drawing, paper, watercolor and graphite. Collection: Walters Art Museum. Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot - Study for Saint Sebastian - Walters 371286
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