Forest of Fontainebleau

A masterly study contrasting the monumentality of the rocks with the fragility of the trees swaying in the wind during the lengthy exposure. Le Gray expresses timelessness and the passing of time simultaneously. Janis describes these early examples of Le Gray's forest scenes thus "The textures in the images, especially in Le Gray's early studies...seem to emulate charcoal drawings or lithographs; and it is not surprising that, when Le Gray submitted some of his early "landscapes" to the official Salon of 1850, they were not even recognised as photographs, but hung instead with the lithographs."

Only one other print, signed, is known to exist from this negative.