Falls of Tivoli 

Camille Corot created this oil on canvas painting, Falls of Tivoli, at an unknown date. During the 19th century, artists from across Europe often traveled to Italy to sketch the countryside and study the Old Masters. These visits were often sponsored by national academies of art or wealthy private patrons, shaping artistic careers and tastes. In this painting, the artist captures a picturesque view of the falls at Tivoli, near Rome. Tivoli was a popular tourist destination in the 19th century, and a familiar subject for landscape artists, however Corot does not include the classical ruins nearby. Rather, he uses the landscape to contemplate the place of nature in an increasingly modern world. The artist’s muted palette and loose brushwork create a sense of atmosphere and emphasize the sublime power of nature. To fully understand this painting, we might look at the exhibition history of landscape paintings in France and Italy. What other kinds of landscapes were popular at the time? How did those tastes change with time? Art history, after all, is fundamentally social history.