Camille Corot was born in Paris on July 26, 1796. His family
were bourgeois people, and unlike the experience of some of his
artistic colleagues, throughout his life he never felt the want
of money. After an education at Rouen, he apprenticed to a
draper, but hated commercial life and despised what he called
its "business tricks,". When he was 26 his father consented to
his adopting the profession of art. Corot learned little from
his masters. He visited Italy on three occasions, and two of his
Roman studies hang in the Louvre. A regular contributor to the
Salon, in 1846 the French government decorated him with the
cross of the Legion of Honour, and he was promoted to an officer
in 1867. Nevertheless, his many friends considered that he was
officially neglected. In 1874, a short time before his death,
they presented him with a gold medal. During the last few years
of his life he earned large sums with his pictures, which were
in great demand. In 1871 he gave £2000 for the poor of Paris and
his continued chari