A Woman Reading
A Woman Reading is an oil painting by French artist Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, made in 1869. It shows a woman sitting outdoors in the countryside, reading a book on her lap. In the distance to the left, there is a river with a man in a boat. The scene blends green fields with a blue, cloudy sky.
Corot was famous for landscapes and later in life painted many solitary, thoughtful women. This painting, titled Femme Lisant in French, was shown at the Salon of 1869 and was the only one of these works he exhibited while alive. When it appeared, critic Théophile Gautier praised its sincere naivete and color, but he criticized the drawing of the woman and noted there were few figures in the painting. After the Salon, Corot revised the landscape but kept the figure unchanged.
The painting is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It was donated in 1928 by Louise Senff Cameron in memory of her uncle Charles H. Senff.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 06:09 (CET).