Untitled (Scene of Fontainebleau)

Discussion

FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG

Trained as a painter, Giroux was an active amateur photographer during the 1850s. His father manufactured equipment for Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, the inventor of the first photographic process, the daguerreotype. In this early example of his appealing landscape work, Giroux focused on a scene in the Forest of Fontainbleau, a favorite locale for 19th-century French artists. Inspired by the compositions of paintings and lithographs, he carefully framed an engaging, asymmetrical arrangement of rocks, trees, and a primitive pathway. This brilliantly lit wooded environment projects a feeling of peace and harmony, order and balance.

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