L’Ane au pré (The Donkey in the Meadow)

Description

His desire to render transitory effects probably attracted Daubigny to the medium of "cliché-verre," which his friend Corot may have taught him. This technique, which enjoyed a brief popularity in the mid-19th century, straddled the processes of printmaking and photography. After covering a glass plate with an opaque mask, such as ink or lacquer the artist scratched his drawing into this ground, to produce what is essentially a glass negative. The plate was then placed on photosensitive paper, and exposed to a strong light source, usually the sun, to print the image.