Camille Corot was a French artist of the 19th century and is considered one of the most important landscape painters of his time, alongside William Turner and John Constable. Corot was a leading figure in the Parisian art scene and a key representative of the Barbizon School, a group of artists around Théodore Rousseau who distanced themselves from academic painting traditions in favor of a more direct connection to nature. Over the course of his career, he moved away from strictly structured landscape painting toward a more atmospheric approach, which had a significant influence on Impressionism throughout Europe.