Study of a Tree in Misty Sunlight

Eugène Cuvelier learned photography from his father, Adalbert, and continued his fatherʼs friendships with Corot and other Barbizon artists. Eugène was an amateur photographer, unpressured by commissions, and even as professional makers of “views” adopted the fact-dense glass-plate negative in the 1850s and 1860s, he remained true to the paper negative process he had learned from his father. The technique lends his exposures a brushy texture reminiscent of charcoal or graphite drawings, which suited his preference for depicting Fontainebleauʼs wildest, most intimate spots.