Q

1181

QUINET, ACHILLE LÉON (1831–1900)
French photographer and studio owner

Born in 1831, Achille Quinet was a successful pho-
tographer who operated a studio at 320 rue St Honoré,
Paris from about 1869 to 1879. Although Quinet made
photographs of the moments and architecture of Paris
as well as a series of views of Italy, he is best known
for his landscape, animals and fi gure studies, many of
which were made in or around the town of Barbizon and
the forest of Fontainebleau. These photographs, which
were likely intended as aids to painters, are generally
albumen prints mounted on blue card stock, with the
stamp “Étude d’Après Nature’ as well as a red rubber
stamp of his name. Some images are mounted on white
stock with the blind stamp “A^ le. Quinet fi ls.”

A member of the Sociéte Française de Photographie

from 1876 to 1894, Quinet exhibited his work at the

universal exhibition of 1878. Most of Quinet’s work is

housed at the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, where he

deposited his Etudes at the Depôt Légal in 1868, 1875,

and 1877. Quinet’s work is occasionally confused with

that of his contemporary, Constant-Alexandre Famin.

While the pair made photographs with similar subject

matter, general stylistic differences distinguish the two.

It is possible that Quinet, acting as a publisher or dis-

tributor, placed his own stamp on works made by Famin.

After 1879, Quinet moved to Cély, near the Forest of

Fontainebleau, where he died in 1900.

Sarah Kennel