In the Forest (Lisiere de foret) 

Alphonse Legros created this etching, In the Forest, using ink on paper. It depicts a landscape filled with trees. Legros was working in France during the mid-19th century, when artists were becoming increasingly interested in depicting the natural world outside of the formal constraints of the French Academy. The Barbizon School of painters, for example, had begun to paint landscapes en plein air, directly from nature, a practice that would soon be taken up by the Impressionists. This atmospheric etching, with its emphasis on light and shadow, can be seen as part of this broader movement toward a more direct and personal engagement with nature. Yet, as an etching, it is still very much tied to the academic tradition of printmaking, reminding us that art is always shaped by the institutions and traditions within which it is produced. To better understand this work, one might research the history of printmaking in France, as well as the social and cultural context of the Barbizon School and the rise of Impressionism.