Landscape: Road to Horville (Paysage: Chemin d'Horville) 

Alphonse Legros, a French-born artist working in 19th-century Britain, created this etching, titled "Landscape: Road to Horville," capturing a scene of rural France. Legros, who spent his early years in the French countryside, often returned to these landscapes in his art. This image presents a humble, unsentimental view of the French landscape, diverging from idealized pastoral scenes. The starkness and simplicity reflect the realities of rural life, mirroring the experiences of the working class and peasantry, the subjects often depicted in Legros' paintings. There’s a raw, unadorned quality to the etching; the road ahead is not clearly marked, representing the uncertain paths of rural life. Legros, who described his artistic aim as "truth," renders the scene with a muted emotional register. It's a landscape stripped of romanticism, offering a glimpse into the ordinary, yet dignified, existence of those connected to the land.