In the Romantic era, nature, which had been neglected as long as the classical tradition prevailed, was extolled by poets and painted by outstanding masters. Camille Corot (page 19), son of a Parisian milliner, became a leading landscapist. Although his teachers were academicians, admirers of Poussin and Ingres, Corot turned to his own fresh experiences of nature. As a Romantic, he saw the world about him passionately. “While imitating conscientiously,” he said, “I never for a moment lose the emotion which first caught my interest.” At times Corot painted with the group of artists who worked at Barbizon near the Forest of Fontainebleau, or sometimes he traveled in Italy, Switzerland, Holland, and England, but usually he was content to stay with his parents in Paris or at their summer home in Ville d’Avray. Versatile in his art, he combined elements of classical composition with romantic feeling and realistic vision. Corot’s breadth of taste allowed him to see the importance of paintings by Daumier, whom he saved from neglect and poverty. Honoré Daumier (page 21), after serving as a bailiff’s clerk and a librarian, was trained as a lithographer and turned to political and social caricature. In the Paris journals, his lithographs, lampooning prominent figures, exposing graft, and making fun of the _bourgeoisie_, were intensely popular. Politics had been uppermost in French minds after the Revolution and times were very unsettled. Two civil revolutions in 1830 and 1848 were followed by invasion during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. During this time the government swerved precariously from monarchy to republic, to empire, and back to republic. The turbulence of these years together with daily human follies was the material of Daumier’s striking cartoons. His paintings, largely made for personal satisfaction, dwelt on the hardships of life in the growing industrial city or, in a lighter vein, on artists, connoisseurs, and circus performers. With his interest in the life about him, Daumier was drawn from Romanticism to Realism.