Study of a Birch Tree, Barbizon (1860s-1870s): Art, History and Details

Study of a Birch Tree, Barbizon (1860s-1870s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Constant Alexandre Famin (French, 1827–1888).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

During his brief career in photography, Famin produced photographic studies of varied motifs, including figures, animals, and elements of landscape, from which young artists learned by copying and seasoned professionals borrowed for their studio compositions. Like an Impressionist painting, this isolated scene of impressive birch trees in the Barbizon forest is animated by a sparkling, dissolving light.

Object facts

• Title: Study of a Birch Tree, Barbizon
• Date: 1860s-1870s
• Creator attribution: Constant Alexandre Famin (French, 1827–1888)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: albumen print from wet collodion negative
• Dimensions: Image: 25.9 x 18 cm (10 3/16 x 7 1/16 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 40.6 cm (20 x 16 in.)
• Collection: Photography
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 1994.93

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.