Gezicht op een vijver met een waterval in het Parc de Saint-Cloud before 1870

This photograph captures a view of a pond with a waterfall in the Parc de Saint-Cloud, by Ernest Eléonor Pierre Lamy. The sepia tones give the scene a classical feel, reminiscent of landscape paintings but firmly grounded in the emerging medium of photography. The composition is structured around geometric forms: the rectangular pond, the tiered cascade, and the symmetrical arrangement of trees. This geometry imposes a sense of order on nature, reflecting a human desire to control and organize the environment. Note the use of perspective and how the pond leads the eye towards the cascade. The photograph's materiality — the texture and tone produced by the photographic process — adds another layer of meaning. Photography, as a medium, destabilizes traditional representations by offering an indexical relationship to reality. This view of the Parc de Saint-Cloud invites us to consider the interplay between nature, representation, and human intervention.