The Forest at Fontainebleau, ca. 1855
Salt print, from a wax paper negative, 11 5/8 x 14 13/16 in. (29.5 x 37.7 cm)
Stephen Carlton Clark, B.A. 1903, Fund
1979.36
The forest of Fontainebleau was the preferred subject of French landscape painters of the Barbizon School, an informal group of artists who routinely returned there to paint scenes of a lyrical, natural landscape. At the height of Barbizon School activity, painter-turned-photographer Gustave Le Gray took his camera into the forest, using the still-new medium for the representation of nature. Le Gray's camera proved to be an excellent vehicle for capturing the mystery and luminosity of the landscape. The waxed paper negative, which Le Gray perfected in 1851, captured the action of light on the forest scene, rendering it in warm detail. This illuminated nature would prove to be a great inspiration to the landscapes of the Impressionists. Claude Monet, in particular, was directly influenced by Le Gray's images and their representation of light.
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