playing card B4: Rembrandt: Girl at a window (1645)
April 15, 2020
Spielkarte G1: Claude Monet: Impression, Sunrise (1872)
April 15, 2020
Camille Corot: Le Chemin de Sèvres (1865)
completed
stolen
longest side (cm)
est. value ($ mill.)
Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
The French landscape painter Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot was born in Paris on July 16, 1796 and died there on February 22. His resting place is in the Parisian cemetery Père Lachaise. Corot is an important representative of the Barbizon school and is considered one of the leading landscape painters in France
.From cloth dealer to landscape painter
Camille Corot completed an apprenticeship as a cloth merchant after attending a high school in Paris. At the age of 26, Corot turned away from this profession and became a student of Jean-Victor Bertin. Contemporary Bertin exhibited his famous landscape paintings in the famous Paris Salon. He teaches Corot neoclassical painting techniques and the art of landscape painting. At the age of 29, Corot went on the compulsory educational trip to Italy in the Campagna Romana as part of his “Grand Tour”. He paints many landscapes and portraits to practice his painting style. During this time, his works will also be exhibited for the first time in the Paris Salon.
Famous art robbery: Camille Corot's painting “Le Chemin de Sèvres. View of Paris ”(1865) was stolen from the Louvre in Paris in 1998. It has been missing since then.
Corot, the restless wanderer
In 1828 Corot returned to Paris and moved to a studio on Rue Voltaire. He always leaves Paris in order to capture his impressions of landscapes visually on trips, which he mostly undertakes on foot. His next stays in Italy were in 1834 and 1843. Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot also travels to other European countries such as the Netherlands and Switzerland.
In his later years, landscape painter Corot received the name Père Corot in the Parisian artist scene. He arranges contracts with younger artists and teaches art. One of his most famous students is Camille Pissarro. Based on his commercial success, Corot is able to financially support the poor in Paris by realizing social projects.
Corots' art robbery “Way to Sèvres. View of Paris ”
Corot's painting measures 29 x 34 cm. It is a relatively small painting, only a quarter the size of Leonardo da Vinci's famous Mona Lisa. Its dimensions make it easy to store in an ordinary bag.
May 3rd, 1998 is an ordinary day for the Louvre in Paris. As always, the museum is full of visitors. The classics of French landscape painting hang in an inconspicuous corner, including Camille Corot's “Le Chemin de Sèvres. Vue de Paris ”from 1865. Nobody notices that someone cuts the canvas out of the frame and rolls it up. Even though the alarm system shrills, the thief mixes with the museum visitors and disappears. Is this story really possible in a museum with the most modern security system in the world?
The rushing security guards find no perpetrators at the scene. Corot's painting consists of only one frame - without canvas. The museum halls are quickly cleared and visitors checked - without success. The robber (s) are no longer in the museum.