Send this notecard to your nearest and dearest or hold it as a treasured keepsake image. Featured here is one drawing from a sketchbook that belonged to the artist Charles François Daubigny (1817-1878). The expansion of the railway system made the wider French landscape accessible to both artists and day-trippers alike, and Fontainebleau became a popular destination when the tracks connecting it to Paris were completed in 1847. Daubigny created illustrations for travel guides, books, and magazines in addition to working as a landscape painter. The sketchbook documents trips made between Paris, Rouen, and Le Havre. His silvery pencil lines captured both the architecture and lively human bustle of the train stations, as well as the waterways, cities, and landscapes he passed through, suggesting the excitement of this still new mode of exploration. This notecard is a product made to complement the exhibition Into the Woods: French Drawings and Photographs from the Karen B. Cohen Gift on view at the Morgan Library & Museum June 16 through October 23, 2023.
