In La Rochelle
Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot (1796–1875), known as Camille Corot, spent about three weeks in La Rochelle in July 1851 with his friends Brizard and the painter Philippe Comairas. There he painted the Old Port.
By 1851 Corot was already painting his grey landscapes, but this picture recalls his earlier, clearer style. It is a finished study — and, unusually for him, he chose to exhibit it at the Salon of 1852, where he generally preferred religious or literary subjects.
The La Rochelle paintings
The Harbor of La Rochelle (1851)
The composition is centred on the Chain Tower and dominated by the Saint-Nicolas and Lantern towers, with horses on the quays in the left foreground (oil on canvas, 50.5 × 71.8 cm). Alfred Robaut bought it from the artist in 1868; it later belonged to Constant Dutilleux and was shown at the Universal Exhibition of 1889 in Paris. It came to Yale with the bequest of Stephen Carlton Clark and has been in New Haven since 1961 — not in Hartford, as the former VisitLaRochelle.com said.
The motif today
From the quays of the Old Port you can still find Corot’s view: the Chain Tower in the centre, the Saint-Nicolas Tower opposite and the Lantern Tower behind.
The exact spot where the painter set up his easel is not documented in our sources: the map shows the monuments in the picture.
Sources: Yale University Art Gallery · Wikipedia (The Harbor of La Rochelle) · Sotheby’s (2017) · Fondation Custodia · jean-baptiste-camille-corot.org · former VisitLaRochelle.com (corrected). Checked 14 October 2026.