Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00012636View of the Small Grotto toward the Deer Pond, Bois de Boulogne
About the Artwork
Although better known for his architectural photographs of Paris, Marville also produced magical landscapes like this image. Carefully composed, the asymmetrical composition presents a picturesque scene of a waterfall flowing from a mound of boulders in the Bois de Boulogne, a forest annexed as a Parisian city park in 1852. The sunlight filtering through the foliage creates a remarkable range of tonal and textural detail, along with lively abstract patterns of light and shadow. Trained as a painter, lithographer, and engraver, Marville took up photography around 1850. He was named official photographer of Paris in 1862 and documented the buildings and neighborhoods ultimately destroyed when the boulevards and open spaces of modern Paris were built in the late 19th century.
Inscriptions
Written in pencil [erased] on recto: "No 46"; written in pencil on verso: "F2 [crossed out] / H2 / L2"
Provenance
(Charles Isaacs Photographs, Inc.), New York, NY March 27, 1989: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
The Year in Review for 1989. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 6-April 15, 1990). Pioneers of Landscape Photography from the Museum's Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 12, 2000-January 3, 2001). Drawn with Light: Pioneering French Photography from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 26-June 16, 2005). France at the Dawn of Photography. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 4, 2009-January 24, 2010).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Charles Marville (French, 1813–1879)
- Date
- 1858
- Medium
- albumen print from wet collodion negative
- Dimensions
- Image: 25.1 x 36.4 cm (9 7/8 x 14 5/16 in.); Matted: 40.6 x 50.8 cm (16 x 20 in.)
- Type
- Photograph
- Classification
- Photograph
- Department
- Photography
- Credit line
- James Parmelee Fund
- Accession no.
- 1989.27
More by Charles Marville in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00012636
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