Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, A Wagon in the Plains of Artois

This view forms part of a group painted by Corot during his stay in north-east France during the spring and summer of 1871, when he left Paris during the upheaval of the Commune. The Marsh at Arleux was painted around the same time.

According to Corot’s friend Alfred Robaut, this picture was painted during the month of May, when the artist was staying at his house in Douai. It is a bright day, the strokes of bright green in the foreground giving a spring-like tonality. The plain is bordered on the left by distant blue hills, and on the right the buildings of a village are suggested by a streak of brown paint overlaid with a line of grey. Just to the right of the centre stands a windmill, its sails visible against the sky. Windmills were a very common sight in the Pas de Calais region at this period. In the foreground is a horse, its head bowed, and the wagon from which this painting takes its name.

The canvas has two grounds or preparatory layers. Grounds were added to make canvas less absorbent and the application of paint smoother. The first, which is off-white, was almost certainly applied by the manufacturers of the canvas; the second, which is grey, was probably added by Corot himself. He has left areas of it exposed, and in the sky it forms the darkest tones of the clouds. To paint the sky Corot used a thick blue paint mixed with white. Using long strokes which closely follow the line of the horizon, he covered several trees, the ghostly forms of which can still be seen through the paint.