The Mill in the Trees 1855

Camille Corot painted this oil on canvas, *The Mill in the Trees*, sometime in the mid-19th century. It depicts a scene of rural France with a mill nestled among trees, and two women in the foreground, perhaps gathering wood. Corot's work exists in a moment of huge social change in France. The industrial revolution was underway, and the old aristocratic order was giving way to a new bourgeois society. As people flocked to the cities in search of work, artists like Corot found new value in scenes of rural life. His paintings provided a nostalgic view of a way of life that was fast disappearing. Of course, there is always a politics to imagery. Art historians use census data, agricultural reports, economic studies and other resources to understand these paintings in context. This helps us to grasp the meaning of art as something deeply embedded in social and institutional conditions.