Excerpt from Barbizon Days: Millet-Corot-Rousseau-Barye A decade of years ago, we pitched our summer tent at Bourron, a little hamlet on the borders of the Forest of Fontainebleau; or rather we occupied another's tent, for our dwelling was a grey stone cottage similar to that of the peasants - our neighbors and friends. The Forest itself was only a few rods distant and my study, the summer through, was in the open air and under the boughs of one of its noble trees. Sitting at my neighbors' board, when their day's work was done, roaming the wood in all directions, searching out especially the haunts of the artists, the months glided away all too fast. There were not hours enough in which to write of all the artists I would have selected as themes. These sketches are not art criticism, they are but the chronicle of that summer. If they make clearer the relation, between na ture and art, suggest that art's alphabet is everywhere awaiting only the seeing eye, or if I have' been able to give again in part the inspiration obtained from that summer's con verse with the strong, this record of Barbizon Days will have accomplished its purpose. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.