Désert d'Apremont

This heathland in the middle of the forest long drew painters. White sand, low morning light, scattered sandstone blocks: everything favoured a painting of pure light, without the screen of foliage. The name 'desert' says something about the period: in the nineteenth century the Fontainebleau forest still had wide open spaces, maintained by centuries of grazing and cutting. The painters arrived in time to record them.