Forest and Rocks, Fontainebleau c. 1860s

Achille Quinet produced this photograph, Forest and Rocks, Fontainebleau, in France, sometime in the mid-to-late 19th century. It offers a glimpse into the cultural and artistic movements of the time, particularly the shift towards naturalism. The Forest of Fontainebleau wasn’t only a geographical location, but a site of artistic pilgrimage. It drew landscape painters and photographers keen to capture its raw beauty. This image reflects the growing interest in the natural world, but also in more democratic or ‘realist’ depictions of it, in contrast to earlier traditions of idealised landscape painting. Looking at this photograph, we might consider how the rise of photography influenced painting. Did it push painters toward abstraction or heightened realism, or did it offer a new means of representing the natural world? Exploring the archives of artistic institutions and exhibition records can reveal much about the dialogue between art forms and the changing perceptions of nature in 19th-century France.