![Camille Corot - La Cathedrale de Chartres [1830] by Gandalf's Gallery](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5325/9730764590_e415e0ec06.jpg)
One of Corot's first masterpieces, Chartres Cathedral was painted in 1830, a few months after the artist's return from Italy. Still suffused with the light of that country, this work, with its clear tones and visual objectivity, is perfectly laid out and soundly structured. Corot's concern with the architecture is clear, but he has chosen an odd composition, with the mound and the stacked stones in the foreground. Partly taken from life, the painting was considerably reworked forty-two years later by Corot, who enlarged it when it was being relined and added the small figure at bottom left.
[Musée du Louvre, Paris - Oil on canvas, 64 x 51 cm]