Calvary Côte de Grâce near Honfleur

631
Calvary Côte de Grâce near Honfleur
ca. 1829-1830
Camille Corot

Corot painted out of doors like his fellow painters of the Barbizon School thus opening new dimensions for landscape painting in the 19th c. He used sketches like this as studies for paintings later finished in the studio.

In particular he made such studies in Normandy and Brittany. When in Normandy he often stayed in Honfleur, an old sea port on the left bank of the Seine estuary. His famous Calvary providing a wide view over the whole estuary developed from Côte de Grâce, a little hill above the old harbour dating from the 17th c., at the western exit from Honfleur.