Art Institute of ChicagoPublic domain

Souvenir of the Environs of Lake Nemi

Jean Baptiste Camille Corot · 1865

Analyst brief

What the record supports

Jean Baptiste Camille Corot's painting, "Souvenir of the Environs of Lake Nemi," was created in 1865. This oil on canvas measures 98.4 × 134.3 cm (38 3/4 × 52 7/8 in.) and is classified as an oil on canvas from France within the Department of Painting and Sculpture of Europe.

The painting's provenance includes M. L. by 1867, Albert Hecht by 1875, and William Schaus by 1884. It was sold to Mary J. Morgan, then Thomas Newcomb, and later his widow, Alice Newcomb, before being acquired by W. W. Seaman as agent in 1912. Cyrus Hall McCormick Jr. owned the work by 1923, and a portion passed to his son, Cyrus McCormick III, in 1941. It was subsequently owned by Florence Nicks Sittenham Davey McCormick, who bequeathed it to the Art Institute in 1979.

"Souvenir of the Environs of Lake Nemi" has been exhibited internationally, including at the Paris Salon in 1865 and the Exposition Universelle de 1867, as well as in Tokyo, Edinburgh, Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Moscow, and New York. The painting has been discussed in multiple publications dating back to 1865, including "Le Salon: Cinquante tableaux et sculptures" and "Le Courrier artistique."

Generated from the catalogue fields shown on this page. Nartmad does not assert attributions, valuations or prices that no cited source supports.

Provenance

Ownership history

M. L. by 1867 [lent to Paris 1867]. Albert Hecht (died 1889), Paris, by 1875 [lent to Paris 1875]. William Schaus, New York, by 1884 [this and the following according to 1912 Morgan sale catalogue, below]; sold to Mary J. Morgan (died 1885); her estate sale, American Art Association, New York, March 3–5, 1886, lot 216, for $14,000 to Thomas Newcomb [price and buyer according to an annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the William Randolph Hearst Archive, Long Island University]; Thomas Newcomb (died 1901), New York; his widow, Alice Newcomb, New York; her estate sale, The American Art Galleries, New York, January 24, 1912, no. 26, as Lake Nemi for $85,000 to W. W. Seaman as agent, possibly on behalf of Cyrus Hall McCormick Jr. [price and buyer as agent according to New York Times 1912]. Cyrus Hall McCormick Jr. (died 1936), Chicago, by 1923 [according to loan documentation, Art Institute Archives]; on intermittent loan to the Art Institute, from 1923 [according to documentation cited above]; his estate; portion of the estate that passed to his son, Cyrus McCormick III (died 1970), Chicago, October 15, 1941 [according to a letter from Judson F. Stone to McCormick Properties Investments dated October 15, 1941, copy in curatorial file]; his second wife Florence Nicks Sittenham Davey McCormick (died 1979), New York; bequeathed to the Art Institute, 1979.

Recorded by Art Institute of Chicago.

Exhibitions

Exhibition history

Paris, Salon de 1865, 1865, no. 507.
Paris, Exposition Universelle de 1867, 1867, cat. 164.
Paris, L’École Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Exposition de l’oeuvre de Corot, 1875, cat. 23.
New York, American Art Galleries, The Works of Antoine-Louis Barye, November 1889, cat. 584.
Tokyo, Seibu Museum of Art, Shikago Bijutsukan Insho-ha ten (The Impressionist Tradition: Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago), October 18–December 17, 1985, no. 7; Fukuoka Art Museum, January 5–February 2, 1986; Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, March 4–April 13, 1986.
Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland, Lighting up the Landscape: French Impressionism and Its Origins, August 1–October 19, 1986, cat. 13.
Leningrad [St. Petersburg], Hermitage Museum, Ot Delakrua do Matissa: shedevry frantsuzskoĭ zhivopici XIX-nachala XX veka, iz Muieia Metropoliten v Niu-Ĭorke i Khudozhestvennogo Instituta v Chikago [From Delacroix to Matisse: Great Paintings From the XIX century to the Beginning of the XXth century From Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago], March 15-May 19, 1988, cat. 5; Moscow, Pushkin Museum, June 10-July 30, 1988.
Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Corot 1796-1875, February 27 – May 27, 1996, cat. 127; Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, June 21- September 22, 1996; New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 22, 1996 – January 19, 1997.

Literature

Published references

M. Boetzel, Le Salon: Cinquante tableaux et sculptures, dessinés par les Artistes exposants (paris, Bureau de la Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1865), ill, no page no.
D’Arpentigny, “Salon de 1865,” Le Courrier artistique (June 25, 1865), p. 222.
Alph. Audéoud, “Salon de 1865,” Revue indépendante 24 (1864–1865), p. 750.
Louis Auvray, “Salon de 1865. III,” Revue artistique et littéraire 8 (1865), p. 239.
Louis Gallet, Salon de 1865 (Paris: Le Bailly, 1865), p. 11.
Théophile Gautier, “Salon de 1865. V. Peinture,” Le Moniteur universel (June 18, 1865), p. 835.
Felix Jahyer, Étude sur les beaux-arts: Salon de 1865 (Paris: E. Dentu, 1865), pp. 182–84.
Léon Lagrange, “Le Salon de 1865,” Le Correspondant 29 (1865), p. 153.
Louis de Laincel, Promenade aux Champs-Élysées (Paris: E. Dentu, 1865), p. 94.
Charles de Moüy, “Salon de 1865,” Revue française 11 (1865), p. 202.
Charles Rolland, “Le Salon 1865,” L’Universel 7 (June 29, 1865), p. 202.
“Salon de 1865,” Almanach de la littérature, de théâtre et des beaux-arts (1866), p. 66.

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