Camille Corot - Bacchante by the Sea [1865]

Camille Corot - Bacchante by the Sea [1865], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

In his study of Corot, the German art historian Julius Meier-Graefe extolled the series of Odalisques that the artist painted throughout his career, beginning in 1837: "The progressive development of his Odalisques continued until he was past sixty; a development not of a type but of the painting. . . . In the course of fifty years, this figure seems to grow and take on broader, more majestic contours. The forms become rounder, the limbs learn movement, the flesh becomes more elastic and finally, perfected beauty emerges. His women painted in the sixties take on a brilliant loveliness." Corot exhibited this work, along with another, also of a reclining nude, at the 1865 Paris Salon.

[Oil on wood, 38.7 x 59.4 cm]