Two hundred years after the birth of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875), 163 of the French artist's finest paintings have been brought together in an important exhibition that allows a public on both sides of the Atlantic to rediscover the riches and pleasures of his art. Corot, an original painter who produced a body of work of exceptional range, has been many things to many viewers.

His silvery landscapes were adored by nineteenth-century collectors, and his sparkling sketches painted in plein air were later hailed as precursors of Impressionism. Art lovers have prized his figures paintings, the least well known and perhaps the most modern of all his works.

1. Corot's long and prolific career coincided with major artistic developments: the flourishing of Neoclassical, Romantic, and Realist tendencies; the Barbizon school; the rise of Impressionism. Although he has been claimed at various times for each of these movements, Corot defies categorization. His art was fueled by a profound love of the natural world, and the vision he pursued was his own. This catalogue of the exhibition recounts the engrossing progress of his life and art.