View taken from the Villefranche road before 1886

Albert Courret made this photograph, "View taken from the Villefranche road," in Nice, France. It presents a seemingly straightforward landscape, but it's charged with the dynamics of leisure and class in the late 19th century. Nice, at this time, was becoming a playground for the European elite, particularly the English. Photography played a crucial role in promoting this image. The views here, the manicured Promenade des Anglais and the road to Villefranche, emphasize the ordered beauty of the region, designed to attract wealthy tourists. Consider the title itself: ‘View taken from the Villefranche road.’ It’s not just a description, but an invitation, suggesting a specific vantage point for experiencing the landscape, one that caters to a particular kind of traveler. To fully understand this image, we might turn to travel guides, social histories of the French Riviera, and studies of photography's role in shaping tourist destinations. In doing so, we start to reveal the complex social and economic forces that shaped not just the image, but the landscape it depicts.