Marble
University of Notre Dame
Loading navigation...

The Forest of Fontainebleau: Undergrowth in Bas-Bréau

Date

ca. 1851, printed ca. 1856

Creator

Jean-Baptiste Gustave Le Gray

Location

Raclin Murphy Museum of Art

One sunny day about 1853, Gustave Le Gray, a former painter, set up his large camera on a tripod along a rutted dirt road in the Forest of Fontainebleau, outside Paris. Using a process of his own invention, he produced a paper negative from which he printed this striking photograph. Le Gray deliberately chose to make the image somewhat diffuse and dreamlike, believing that the effect made the photograph more like a drawing, and thus more "artistic." The result resembles some of the landscapes of the Barbizon painters and anticipates the technique of the Impressionists. Le Gray’s forest view is a masterpiece of the genre. The warm golden tone of the photograph perfectly conveys the sunlight filtering through the leaves and dappling the trunks of the trees. The converging ruts of the path lead into the distant woods, inviting the viewer to enter the scene. Soft, cloudlike areas in the branches above are not technical mistakes but a record of the breeze that rustled the leaves during the long exposure, on a hot summer’s day in France more than one hundred and fifty years ago. from Snite Museum of Art, Selected Works: Snite Museum of Art (Notre Dame, 2005)

Cite This
One sunny day about 1853, Gustave Le Gray, a former painter, set up his large camera on a tripod along a rutted dirt road in the Forest of Fontainebleau, outside Paris. Using a process of his own invention, he produced a paper negative from which he printed this striking photograph. Le Gray deliberately chose to make the image somewhat diffuse and dreamlike, believing that the effect made the photograph more like a drawing, and thus more "artistic." The result resembles some of the landscapes of the Barbizon painters and anticipates the technique of the Impressionists. Le Gray’s forest view is a masterpiece of the genre. The warm golden tone of the photograph perfectly conveys the sunlight filtering through the leaves and dappling the trunks of the trees. The converging ruts of the path lead into the distant woods, inviting the viewer to enter the scene. Soft, cloudlike areas in the branches above are not technical mistakes but a record of the breeze that rustled the leaves during the long exposure, on a hot summer’s day in France more than one hundred and fifty years ago. from Snite Museum of Art, Selected Works: Snite Museum of Art (Notre Dame, 2005)
Open external viewer application
  • One sunny day about 1853, Gustave Le Gray, a former painter, set up his large camera on a tripod along a rutted dirt road in the Forest of Fontainebleau, outside Paris. Using a process of his own invention, he produced a paper negative from which he printed this striking photograph. Le Gray deliberately chose to make the image somewhat diffuse and dreamlike, believing that the effect made the photograph more like a drawing, and thus more "artistic." The result resembles some of the landscapes of the Barbizon painters and anticipates the technique of the Impressionists. Le Gray’s forest view is a masterpiece of the genre. The warm golden tone of the photograph perfectly conveys the sunlight filtering through the leaves and dappling the trunks of the trees. The converging ruts of the path lead into the distant woods, inviting the viewer to enter the scene. Soft, cloudlike areas in the branches above are not technical mistakes but a record of the breeze that rustled the leaves during the long exposure, on a hot summer’s day in France more than one hundred and fifty years ago. from Snite Museum of Art, Selected Works: Snite Museum of Art (Notre Dame, 2005)
  • One sunny day about 1853, Gustave Le Gray, a former painter, set up his large camera on a tripod along a rutted dirt road in the Forest of Fontainebleau, outside Paris. Using a process of his own invention, he produced a paper negative from which he printed this striking photograph. Le Gray deliberately chose to make the image somewhat diffuse and dreamlike, believing that the effect made the photograph more like a drawing, and thus more "artistic." The result resembles some of the landscapes of the Barbizon painters and anticipates the technique of the Impressionists. Le Gray’s forest view is a masterpiece of the genre. The warm golden tone of the photograph perfectly conveys the sunlight filtering through the leaves and dappling the trunks of the trees. The converging ruts of the path lead into the distant woods, inviting the viewer to enter the scene. Soft, cloudlike areas in the branches above are not technical mistakes but a record of the breeze that rustled the leaves during the long exposure, on a hot summer’s day in France more than one hundred and fifty years ago. from Snite Museum of Art, Selected Works: Snite Museum of Art (Notre Dame, 2005)
Jean-Baptiste Gustave Le Gray (French, 1820 - 1884)
ca. 1851, printed ca. 1856
Photographs
Salt print from waxed paper negative
1984.012.030
forests
sunlight
wind
Not on view, please request access
10 1/8 x 14 5/8 in. (25.8 x 37 cm)
Janos Scholz Collection

Our collection information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. If you have spotted an error, please contact Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at RMMACollections@nd.edu.