Realism in France

Eugène Cuvelier

Carrefour de l'Epine

early 1860s

Salted paper print, 19.3 × 25.8 cm. National Gallery of Art, Washington

A photograph of bare trees at the Carrefour de l'Épine, a named crossing in the Forest of Fontainebleau.

• Cuvelier worked in the circle of Corot and photographed the same woods the painters used.
• The Met's Cuvelier study notes that he printed from paper negatives, which give the soft, grainy tone.
• The photograph shares the painters' aim: a real spot, recorded without arranging it.

Salted paper print

an early photographic print on paper coated with salt and silver, with a matte surface.

Image: National Gallery of Art, Washington · Public domain (NGA Open Access)