LONDON.- The only decorative cycle on public display in the UK by one of the most influential artists in the development of landscape painting and a key inspiration to the Impressionists, will remain on view for future generations to enjoy after being purchased by the National Gallery with the support of the Art Fund.

The Four Times of Day (about 1858), by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, has a long association with the UK. The four paintings, representing Morning (pictured left), Noon, Evening and Night, were acquired by artist Frederic, Lord Leighton in 1865 and were among the earliest Corot works to be acquired by a British collector. Lord Leighton displayed them as the focal point of his London home, where they provided inspiration for his fellow Victorian artists. After his death, the paintings spent more than a century in the same family collection and have been on loan to the National Gallery since 1997. The pictures were acquired for Lord Wantage at Christie’s in 1896 and their sale to the nation was negotiated by Christie’s.

Corot painted the four large panels, which trace the deepening light of the sky from sunrise to star-studded night, to decorate the Fontainebleau studio of his friend and fellow painter Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps. He completed the cycle in a single week prompting Decamps to exclaim, 'Not so fast, don’t hurry so; there is still enough soup for a few days more.' Decamps apparently spent hours in contemplation of the panels, filled with dismay at their quality, technique and effect compared to his own work.

The Four Times of Day belong to a decade in which Corot's work was shifting to a more personal impression of nature, one in which 'souvenirs', (studio landscapes composed from memories or sketches of real landscapes), played an increasing part. It is one of the largest decorative cycles by the artist where all the paintings can still be viewed together in one place – and the only in the UK.

The Four Times of Day complements 21 paintings by Corot in the National Gallery collection, ranging from plein air oil studies painted in Italy and France to a substantial group of late studio landscapes in his characteristic mature style - plus the recent gift by Lucian Freud of one of Corot’s late, great, majestic studies of women, Italian Woman, or Woman with Yellow Sleeve (‘L’Italienne’) of about 1870.

National Gallery Director Dr Nicholas Penny, said: “The Four Times of Day are without narrative although there are figures blended with the natural forms. Each painting is a meditative evocation of the beauty of nature and at the same time a bravura demonstration of the artist's skill in improvising landscape compositions that are subtly interrelated in both colour and form. They are among Corot's greatest works and we are delighted that – with support from the Art Fund – we are able to make them a permanent addition to the national collection.”

That the National Gallery is the perfect home for The Four Times of Day was recognized as far back as 1896 when the Pall Mall Gazette art critic, Robert Alan Mowbray Stevenson, commented at the studio sale after Lord Leighton’s death, “The Corots deserve a place in the National Gallery, and if any millionaire should care for Corot, Lord Leighton, England, or art, he could not do better than present them to the nation.”

Art Fund Director Stephen Deuchar said “We could not think of a better home for these important works than the National Gallery, where they have resided and delighted for over 17 years. We were very pleased to help by offering a substantial grant.”

The Four Times of the Day can be seen now on display in Room 41 of the National Gallery, London.