I don't know if Corot is not greater than Delacroix. Corot is the father
of modern landscape. There is no landscape painter of to-day
who--knowingly or not--does not derive from him. I have never seen a
picture of Corot's which was not beautiful, or a line which did not mean
something.
Among modern painters it is Corot who as a colourist has most in common
with Rembrandt. The colour scheme is golden with the one and grey with
the other throughout the whole harmony of tones. In appearance their
methods are the opposite of each other, but the desired result is the
same. In a portrait by Rembrandt all details melt into shadow in order
that the spectator's gaze may be concentrated on a single part, often
the eyes, and this part is handled more caressingly than the rest.
Corot, on the other hand, sacrifices the details which are in the
light--the extremities of trees, and so on--and brings us always to the
spot which he has chosen for his main appeal to the spectator's eye.
_Dutilleux._