His father and mother kept a millinery store; this must have been a good business, for they soon accumulated a comfortable fortune.
At ten years of age Corot was sent away to school at Rouen in the hope of making a business man of him. He lived with a friend of his father who was a serious man but also a great lover of nature. Corot took many a long walk with him over narrow, unfrequented paths. They took these walks usually at the close of the day, and so Corot's love of the twilight hour grew strong.
Upon his return to Paris seven years later, his father placed him in a drygoods store, where he remained for nearly nine years. Whenever there were no customers the boy would hide under the counter and draw. His employer was a good-natured man and he sympathized with Corot in his desire to be a painter. So he told the father it was of no use to try to make a business man of him as his tastes were all for art.
About this time Corot went to his father and asked his permission to study painting. The father was not at all pleased with the idea, but decided to let him try. He told his son he had set aside a certain sum of money to start him in business for himself and he could choose that or a small income which would be allowed him for the study of art. If he chose the latter, however, he must not expect any other help from his father, as he did not approve of this new venture. But Corot embraced his father most affectionately and declared he had made him the happiest person in the world. He then proceeded at once to the nearest store and bought a complete painter's outfit. Choosing a spot by the river near his father's house, he began to paint. He tells us how the girls who worked in the millinery store slipped away and came to see what he was doing. He never parted with this first painting, but kept it as a reminder of his great happiness when he was at last free to do "what he most desired in the world."
He studied under several artists, but received little encouragement until he went to Rome to study.
Most of the paintings of that time were classical, including Greek temples, shepherds, nymphs, or dryads, and such trees as cedars and palms. That is why Millet's simple peasants and Corot's misty landscapes were not appreciated.
At Rome, Corot became a great favorite among the students because of his happy nature and the rollicking, jolly songs he could sing. But as for his pictures,—they were considered very amusing.
However, one day as he sat sketching the Coliseum a friend who was regarded as an authority on landscape painting praised his work. Corot looked around expecting to be laughed at, but no,—the man was in earnest. That evening, before all the other students, he remarked that Corot might some day become the master of them all. This gave him standing among the artists and was greatly appreciated by Corot, who always felt that this praise was the beginning of his success. It was not long after this that his pictures were exhibited and many honors came to him.
Does it seem strange that Corot and Millet, looking upon the same woods and people, living and painting so near each other, should choose such different subjects? Corot saw the same poor, toilworn peasants, and he helped them most generously when they asked him, but as for painting them—he did not think of it. Millet saw the same beautiful woods, fields, and sky, and loved them all, but to him the peasant came first.
He said, "Corot's pictures are beautiful, but they do not reveal anything new."