Eugène Cuvelier 1837-1900

The collection of John Chandler Bancroft, Middletown, Rhode Island

Gustave J. S. White Co., Auctioneers, Newport, Rhode Island, 1989

Acquired from the above by a New England antiques dealer

To the present owners, 1989

New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Eugène Cuvelier, Photographer in the Circle of Corot, October 1996 - January 1997

Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Eugène Cuvelier oder Die Legende vom Wald, March - May 1997

Paris, Musée d'Orsay, Eugène Cuvelier (1837-1900): Photographe de la Forêt de Fontainebleau, June - August 1997

The present photograph was taken on the grounds of the Château de Courances, located approximately 11 miles from the town of Fontainebleau, and 31 miles from Paris.  Designed and built in the 1620s, Courances was known for its intricate network of manmade waterways which, unlike the ostentatious waterworks at Versailles, blended naturally into the landscape.  The flowing waterways consist of a series of canals, as well as a large reflecting pool.  In the present photograph, Cuvelier shows one quiet corner of the chateau's water park, with an ivy-covered tree leaning over a smoothly running stream, and a small waterfall visible in the distance, just below the center of the composition.  Two other photographs taken at Courances by Cuvelier are present in the collection as Lots 23 and 24.

Gauss accounts for only one print of this image: the salt print offered here.