Interior of a Wood at Pierrefitte

Oil on paper, laid down on cardboard
Dimensions: 11 1/8 x 16 in. (28.3 x 40.6 cm)

The true subject of this painting is the dispersal of sunlight in a thicket of trees, where the only patch of sky is visible as a reflection in the stream at center. It was sketched at Pierrefitte, just to the north of Paris, in 1822, the same year Leprince made his public debut at the Salon. Study of the accidental effects of nature was an essential part of the landscape artist’s development.
Leprince’s first teachers were his father, Anne-Pierre, and his brother Auguste-Xavier.

(Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art)