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

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

When Cuvelier photographed at Courances in the 1860s, the chateau had been untenanted for over 30 years.  Its buildings were in a state of disrepair and its renowned network of waterways had partially disappeared.  In 1866, Jules Le Coeur visited the chateau in the company of the painters Alfred Sisley and Auguste Renoir, and described it as 'a beautiful castle abandoned by the Marquis de Nicolay and which, surrounded by water and not maintained, is gradually falling apart like a piece of sugar forgotten in a wet place' (http://users.aol.com/courances/historiqueuk.htm).  The forlorn aspect of the dilapidated grounds of Courances is proficiently conveyed by the dark tones and gothic mood of the print offered here.  Cuvelier may have achieved the unusual cool-toned appearance of this print through gold-toning, which was capable of imparting a wide range of effects to salt prints, from a brick-red coloration, to the nearly neutral tones seen here. Two other photographs of Courances by Cuvelier are present in the collection as Lots 22 and 24. 

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