swer? Of what kind of lines is this picture made up? What colors
were used? Where are the bright colors? In what part of the forest is
this picture? What can you see through the open space?

=The story of the artist.= From the very first all things seemed to
favor Corot. Of a naturally happy disposition, born into a family of
means, and all his life free from financial worries, everything seemed
to combine to make his life one of care-free ease and pleasure.

His father and mother kept a millinery store; this must have been a
good business, for they soon accumulated a comfortable fortune.

At ten years of age Corot was sent away to school at Rouen in the hope
of making a business man of him. He lived with a friend of his father
who was a serious man but also a great lover of nature. Corot took
many a long walk with him over narrow, unfrequented paths. They took
these walks usually at the close of the day, and so Corot's love of
the twilight hour grew strong.

Upon his return to Paris seven years later, his father placed him in a
drygoods store, where he remained for nearly nine years. Whenever
there were no customers the boy would hide under the counter and draw.
His employer was a good-natured man and he sympathized with Corot in
his desire to be a painter. So he told the father it was of no use to
try to make a business man of him as his tastes were all for art.

About this time Corot went to his father and asked his permission to
study painting. The father was not at all pleased with the idea, but
decided to let him try. He told his son he had set aside a certain sum
of money to start him in business for himself and he could choose that
or a small income which would be allowed him for the study of art. If
he chose the latter, however, he must not expect any other help from
his father, as he did not approve of this new venture. But Corot
embraced his father most affectionately and declared he had made him
the happiest person in the world. He then proceeded at once to the
nearest store and bought a complete painter's outfit. Choosing a spot
by the river near his father's house, he began to paint. He tells us
how the girls who worked in the millinery store slipped away and came
to see what he was doing. He never parted with this first painting,
but kept it as a reminder of his great happiness when he was at last
free to do "what he most desired in the world."

He studied under several artists, but received little