Corot is a true artist. One must see a painter in his home to have an
idea of his merit. I saw again there, and with a quite new appreciation
of them, pictures which I had seen at the museum and only cared for
moderately. His great "Baptism of Christ" is full of naïve beauties; his
trees are superb. I asked him about the tree I have to do in the
"Orpheus." He told me to walk straight ahead, giving myself up to
whatever might come in my way; usually this is what he does. He does not
admit that taking infinite pains is lost labour. Titian, Raphael,
Rubens, &c., worked easily. They only attempted what they knew; only
their range was wider than that of the man who, for instance, only
paints landscapes or flowers. Notwithstanding this facility, labour too
is indispensable. Corot broods much over things. Ideas come to him, and
he adds as he works. It is the right way.
_Delacroix._