The Island and Bridge of San Bartolomeo, Rome

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

National Gallery of Art

This horizontal landscape painting shows a cluster of tan and rust-brown buildings set on a tiny island at the center of a wide brownish-gray river. We look across the surface of the smooth, glassy river, which spans the width of the composition. Most of the buildings on the island are about the same height, perhaps three or four stories high, except for a bell tower that rises a story above the rest, to our right of center. Sage-green dabs along the ground on the island suggest vegetation. Two arched stone bridges span the river on either side of the island to connect to the city beyond. The color palette is made up entirely of shades of tan, cream white, and brown, except for the blue sky with a band of white puffy clouds above.