Which Painting to Choose: Corot or Morisot?

Paper Summary:

This paper describes the thought process necessary when buying a painting for a museum: "First Leaves, Near Mantes" by Jean Baptiste Camille Corot or "View of Paris from the Trocadero" by Berthe Marie Paul Morisot. The author points out that when buying a painting for a public collection, artistic merits, representation of an important moment in art, a step toward the next discovery, subject matter, painting techniques and what the painting represents both literally and figuratively to the buyer are important.The author, after discussing all these elements, selects the Corot: Corot paints the trees with such strong strokes that it takes but a tiny squint test to see that what he has done in composition alone, and this is prefigure to the abstractions of the century to follow.

From the Paper:

"In fact, the Impressionists followed him just about the time Morisot painted Trocadero. She was, in fact, an Impressionist, even if she lacked the notoriety of her brother-in-law, Edouard Manet. (She married his brother Eugene.) Morisot had studied with Corot when she tired of the classical approach to painting. But yet, her subject matter is more like the subject matter of classical paintings than is Corot's.
Morisot has chosen ordinary people, although in a more formal setting than Corot's setting in the glade. Conceivably, from their dress and the fact that the city of Paris and all its cultural attractions is prominently displayed in the painting, these people are less ordinary more noble than those in the Corot work. That puts it a step closer to classical painting."

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