Camille Corot - The Studio

A young woman seated before a painting placed on an easel is daydreaming, a melancholic expression on her face, a book half open on her lap. Light from a skylight illuminates the scene and the wall upon which several small landscape paintings are hung. Silent poetry permeates this work which seeks to convey the sitter's ambivalence, but perhaps also the emotions experienced by the painter himself when faced with this young woman in this instant.