Landscape-painting in France at the beginning of the nineteenth century had undeniably become conventional and tame; but quite suddenly this stagnant condition came to an end, and a revolution set in, caused by the exhibition of Constable's paintings _The Hay Wain_ and _A View near London_ in the Paris Salon of 1827. These pictures, purchased and exhibited in Paris by a French connoisseur, created intense interest in the French World of Art; and it is alleged that they were the immediate cause whereat French artists suddenly emerged from the studios wherein they had lingered so long and proceeding to the woods of Fontainebleau, began working from Nature herself. They awoke to recognise their own defects, already denounced by Chateaubriand, who had declared that French landscape-painters ignored Nature. Throughout the studios French artists warmly discussed the work of Constable, upon whom Charles X, at their special desire, conferred the Médaille d'Or; and it was suggested that the _Charette_ (_The Hay Wain_, now in the National Gallery) should be acquired by the French Nation. S. W. Reynolds, Constable's friend and pupil, whose exquisite little picture of the _Pont de Sèvres_ hangs in the Tribune at Chantilly, at this time also removed to Paris in order to satisfy the general demand for engravings of his master's works. But if the Barbizon School owed much to Constable, it is also certain that Constable and Wilson owed an equal debt to Claude Lorraine; and Turner perhaps even more so. By Corot there is but one painting at Chantilly, but it is one of his finest works. Everything in this picture breathes a spirit of peace and joy; the sky, the earth and the graceful young women--one of whom is playing a viola and another singing, whilst their companions listen or are plucking fruit--give a cheerful note to this vision of content. [Illustration: PLATE LXXVII. THE GRENADIERS AT EYLAU. _Photo Giraudon._ Détaille.] It is styled _Le Concert Champêtre_[141] and recalls his series of paintings entitled _Souvenir d'Italie_. Corot appears to have commenced his studies in the woods at Fontainebleau even before Millet, Rousseau and Diaz, so that he may fairly be styled the _doyen_ of the now famous Barbizon School. By his pupil A. P. C. Anastasi there are several landscapes at the Musée Condé, one of which represents _Amsterdam at Eventide_.