Eugène Cuvelier 1837-1900

The collection of John Chandler Bancroft, Middletown, Rhode Island

Gustave J. S. White Co., Auctioneers, Newport, Rhode Island, 1989

Acquired from the above by a New England antiques dealer

To the present owners, 1989

Another print of this image:

Ulrike Gauss, Henning Weidemann, and Daniel Challe, Eugène Cuvelier (Stuttgart, 1996, in conjunction with the exhibition), no. 339

The large and stricken-looking oak tree pictured in this image, and in Lot 8, was located on Le Plateau de Belle-Croix in the north-central area of the forest of Fontainebleau.  It was named for the Frankish king Clovis I (circa 466 -  511).  Over the course of his reign, Clovis expanded the boundaries of the Frankish kingdom, in what is now northern France and Belgium, to include much of modern-day France, conquering or winning the alliance of rival tribes.  Although born a pagan, Clovis maintained diplomatic relationships with the Catholic bishops of Gaul.  He ultimately converted to Catholicism, and was baptized at Reims.  While recent scholarship suggests that Clovis may have allied himself to the Arian Christian sect before his conversion, and that his conversion may have taken place only a few years before his death, he is regarded as the first French Catholic monarch. 

The oak tree held a special place in the forest of Fontainebleau, just as it held a special place within French culture.  The long-lived oak, above all other trees, was representative of the age, beauty, and dignity of France and French history.  As Greg M. Thomas writes, 'The oak was generally considered the national tree of France.  The Oak King was an essential part of medieval cosmology, and there was a popular legend that Saint Louis dispensed justice under an oak tree.'  The oak's associations with the ancient Druidic culture of the Gauls earned the tree a permanent place within France's nationhood.  Thomas writes, '. . . no French citizen could contemplate such a wood without thinking back to his or her mythical national origin' (Art and Ecology in 19^th-Century France: The Landscapes of Théodore Rousseau, Princeton University Press, 2000, p. 192).  Accordingly, the oaks of Fontainebleau were given names, primarily by Claude-François Denecourt, that reflected their cultural status.  In addition to Clovis, there were oaks named for Charlemagne, Henri IV, the duc de Sully (see Lot 36), and Napoleon, among others.  

Within the forest of Fontainebleau, the oaks were a frequent source of contention.  The harvesting of oaks for lumber generated significant income for the state, and the forest's managers focused upon maintaining the trees to that end.  By Cuvelier's time, it was becoming more and more unusual to see oaks, such as Le Clovis, whose lives had extended past their lumber prime. 

For artists such as Théodore Rousseau, the perilous situation of the oaks was of real concern.  In 1852, he petitioned emperor Napoleon III to exempt certain portions of Fontainebleau from logging.   Among the areas listed specifically in the petition is the Plateau de Belle-Croix, which he describes as 'a wild area studded with ancient oaks, among which are the Napoleon Oak and the Clovis.'   He continued:  

'I ask you for protection, Monseigneur, for these old trees, which for artists are the source from which they draw their inspiration, their joys, and their future, and which are for all visitors venerable souvenirs of past ages.

'I ask you to command that these reminders of Druidic times, of Charlemagne, St. Louis, Louis XII, and Napoleon be left to die tranquilly in peace.

'If we recognize that the monuments of men, old churches and old palaces, must be respectfully preserved, would it not be just as reasonable to command that the most sublime monuments of nature have like them a tranquil end' (translated by Greg M. Thomas, ibid., p. 217).

Gauss does not account for this salt print in her census, and lists only the albumen print that appears in this collection as Lot 8.