Trained as an artist, Charles Marville's career followed a commercial path. After youthful beginnings as an illustrator, by 1850 he had become a photographer specializing in landscape and architectural views. His work earned him important government commissions to record the transformation of the city of Paris that began in the 1850s. For his documentary series on the newly redesigned Bois de Boulogne Marville made use of the glass negative technique. As seen in this crisp rendition of a woodland path in the new park, such clear and detailed records were windows onto the artful design of the planned landscape, an urban forest playground for the citizens of the new Paris.

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