Gypsy Woman with Mandolin

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

National Gallery of Art

Shown from the shins up, a woman with medium-toned skin plays a mandolin in this loosely painted vertical composition. The woman’s body faces us but her head tips to our left and she looks down in that direction with dark eyes. She has a short nose, and her full lips are closed over a rounded chin. Her brown hair falls loosely around her shoulders and is covered by a pumpkin-orange head cloth. Glints at her ears suggest earrings. She wears a beige jacket with puffy, voluminous sleeves over a shell-pink shirt with a high, ruffled collar above a red band. A rose-pink sash is tied around her waist and falls down the front of her long, beige skirt, and red cloth hangs along her right side, to our left. She holds a mandolin in both hands. The background is painted with dabs and mottled tones of earth green, golden brown, and muted blue and white for the sky. Brushstrokes are visible or blended throughout and are especially broad in the clothing and background. The artist signed the lower left corner, “COROT.”