Learn More About Landscape in the Nineteenth Century

Jules Le Coeur Walking in the Fontainbleau Forest with his Dogs, 1866
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Oil on Canvas
41 3/4 x 31 3/4 in
Museu de Arte de São Paulo
Assis Châteaubriand, São Paulo
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Oil on Canvas
41 3/4 x 31 3/4 in
Museu de Arte de São Paulo
Assis Châteaubriand, São Paulo
Landscape and Photography
The following photographs represent various aspects of the urban and rural environment in the nineteenth century—from views of public gardens to country estates. The modern human subject figures prominently in a number of these photographs. Whether relaxing in an urban park or returning from a sporting expedition, the women and men attest to the variety of activities that had become available to a wider public throughout the nineteenth century.Landscape and the Press—L'Illustration
![]() Study after Nature, 1874 From the French periodical L'Illustration |
Founded in 1843, the French news weekly L'Illustration was an extravagantly produced periodical that sought to capture up-to-date views of the modern world. Throughout Renoir's lifetime, the publication was known for its woodcuts and metal etchings as well as the scope of its articles, which covered topics of Parisian, French, and international concerns. The images here present different ways in which landscape was represented on the pages of L'Illustration: from the image of landscape painters at work en plein air (seen at right) to uninhabited views of forest settings as well as the new private gardens that sprung up during the nineteenth century as bucolic retreats in the midst of the urban fabric of Paris (seen below). Daumier's satirical take on landscape artists at work provides a more incisive critique of the type of artistic ventures that were part and parcel of the visual representations reproduced on the pages of L'Illustration. |
![]() Nature's Abode—Twilight, 1872 From the French periodical L'Illustration |
![]() The Private Gardens of Paris—Le Jardin des Carmes, 1871 From the French periodical L'Illustration |
Landscape and the City: Paris in the 19th century
![]() Square de la Trinitié Alphand, A., Les Promenades de Paris ![]() Bois Vista Alphand, A., Les Promenades de Paris ![]() Champs-Élysées Alphand, A., Les Promenades de Paris |
Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand was a French park designer who worked with Baron Haussmann to renovate large sections of Paris during the early years of Renoir's life. He was in charge of many of the urban parks projects undertaken during Haussmann's enterprise, including the Bois de Boulogne and the Buttes Chaumont. Alphand meticulously recorded the extensive renovations to the urban fabric of Paris in his encyclopedic work, The Promenades of Paris. These illustrations, instructions, lists of materials, and architectural plans demonstrate the degree to which the seemingly informal natural environments of the urban parks and gardens were in fact meticulously engineered reorganizations of the urban fabric: from the mathematically precise botanical specifications to the extensive public works and other infrastructure required to bring the countryside into the city. |
La Grenouillère

La Grenouillere, 1869
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Oil on Canvas
23 1/4 x 31 1/2 in.
RepositoryPushkin Museum of Fine Arts (Muzey Izobrazitelnykh Iskusstv Imeni A.S. Pushkina),
Moscow, Russia
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Oil on Canvas
23 1/4 x 31 1/2 in.
RepositoryPushkin Museum of Fine Arts (Muzey Izobrazitelnykh Iskusstv Imeni A.S. Pushkina),
Moscow, Russia