A Torrent at Romagnes, after 1862, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, French, 1796 - 1875, 14 1/8 x 20 1/8 in. (35.88 x 51.12 cm) (canvas), Oil on canvas, France, 19th century, France was defeated, broken in body and spirit, at the end of the bloody Franco-Prussian War in 1871. The comfort and beauty of landscape paintings was a balm, a boost to morale. Jules Castagnary, a critic at the time, commented, 'Landscape remains the strength and glory of our French school. Although the jury went through it like a plow through a green field, there are still enough beautiful examples to prove to foreigners that we have not degenerated, at least not in this area.' Corot became a poet of landscape painting with images like this, the women walking beside the torrential river representing the peace and wellness of the French after the war.