Carrefour de l'Epine - Early photography, Public domain image

Eugene Cuvelier was trained as a painter but became interested in photography in the early 1860s. He began photographing the Fontainebleau Forest, which was a popular subject for painters at the time. His photographs captured the natural beauty of the forest and its changing seasons and were highly praised for their artistic qualities. Cuvelier's photographs were exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1863 and 1865, and he won a gold medal for his work in 1867. He continued to photograph the forest at Fontainebleau throughout the 1870s, as well as other landscapes in France and Switzerland. Cuvelier's photographic style was influenced by the Romantic movement and his photographs have a soft, atmospheric quality. He used large format cameras and long exposure times to capture the detail of the landscape, and he often printed his photographs in warm tones to enhance their emotional impact. Cuvelier died in 1900, but his photographs continue to be celebrated for their artistic and historical significance. They are in the collections of major museums around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.