4034 - Famin, Constant Alexandre

Famin, Constant Alexandre Forest of Fontainebleau. 1870–1874. 6 albumen prints from wet-collodion glass negatives, mounted on blue card. Each approx. 18.8 x 24.6 cm to 21 x 28.5 cm (mounts 35 x 51 cm). Most bear a faint “C. FAMIN PHOTOGRAPHE PARIS” blindstamp; numbered on the negatives and in pencil on the mounts, including 190, 202, 232, 245, and 258. Each mount is stamped “PHOTOGRAPHIES ARTISTIQUES / A. FONCELLE / 3 QUAI MALAQUAIS.” Famin’s Fontainebleau photographs, produced beginning in the 1860s, are part of a body of work that served both as landscape studies in their own right and as visual references for painters working in and around Barbizon. This cohesive selection focuses on winding paths, monumental trees, and tranquil woodland interiors. The sequential numbering and matching Foncelle mounts indicate that the prints were part of Famin’s commercially released series, rather than views assembled later. Their varying formats—ranging from expansive landscape studies to intimate vertical portraits of ancient trees—lend the group both visual rhythm and a strong sense of place. – Mounts show signs of handling, foxing, soiling, and edge defects; one has a small corner loss. The prints have minor spots and surface marks but are otherwise in good overall condition.