Sibylle

Corot spent his life painting silvery landscapes, and the public rarely saw pictures like this one. Toward 1870, in his seventies, he kept a series of models in his Paris studio and painted figures largely for himself. The sitter here was an Italian woman named Agostina, well known in the Montparnasse quarter where he worked. Look closely and the painting is unfinished and much changed. Corot first gave her a cello, meaning to turn her into a muse of music, then painted the instrument out and slipped a single red rose into her hand instead. The grand title Sibylle, an ancient prophetess, came later. These studio figures stayed mostly private until after his death in 1875.