MATTHEW RIDLEY CORBET (BRITISH 1850-1902 AN ALPINE VIEW Inscribed with initials verso, oil on paper laid down on canvas; and a companion, a pair, also mounted within the same frame (9cm x 20.5cm (3.5in x in) each) Qty: (2) Note: These two small studies mounted together most probably depict Alpine landscapes. They were painted on individual sheets of paper subsequently laid on canvas. The initials “M.R.C.” inscribed in charcoal directly onto the canvas verso confirm the authorship of Corbet, although they are difficult to compare with his other traced open-air works due to the lack of known Alpine views in the artist’s oeuvre. The, unusual at this stage in landscape painting, technique of oil on paper enhances the fluidity of the artist’s dynamic brushwork in these evidently swiftly executed sketches which depict a small village and a church in lush green valleys surrounded by mountains. The motif of tumultuous clouds engulfing mountain tops especially in the latter work is close to that in the landscape sketch for Frederic Leighton’s David of around 1865 (Leighton House Museum, London).