Valley in Bourgogne (Une vallee en Bourgogne) 

Alphonse Legros etched this view of a Valley in Bourgogne, capturing a seemingly simple landscape with profound depth. The horizon line, unbroken and vast, divides the earthly from the celestial, a motif as old as art itself. We see how artists across epochs have returned to this fundamental division, from the serene landscapes of Claude Lorrain to the dramatic vistas of Caspar David Friedrich. The horizon, a symbol of hope, a marker of the unknown. Yet, in Legros's etching, the horizon is not merely a line; it is a subtle, almost imperceptible barrier. The very act of observing such a view becomes a meditation on our place in the world, a rumination on the cycles of nature and the passage of time. The cyclical progression of the landscape reminds us that we are part of a continuum, and that nature's beauty, though constant, is always in flux, shifting with the light and evolving through time.