After gaining early acclaim for intricate studies of
flowers that he created for wallpaper designs, Adolphe Braun turned to scenic European
landscapes and reproductions of works of art in other media in the 1860s. Braun
was an enterprising businessman who established a successful photography studio
in the Alsace region of France that catered to different markets by printing in
a variety of sizes and formats, ranging from stereographs to the more permanent
carbon print. This grand view of a northern Alpine lake was printed from a
mammoth-plate glass negative, a large format that faithfully describes the water’s
crystalline reflection.