A Volcano in Auvergne

O nature, you are indeed my mother, you move my soul.

So declared artist Amantine-Aurore-Lucile Dupin, baronne Dudevant, known as George Sand, a key figure of French Romanticism and a prolific author of bucolic fictions. A testimony to landscape's vitality as a genre in the late 1800s, this sensitive plein air (outdoor) study of an extinct volcano in Auvergne--in the heart of France--illustrates how Sand celebrated virgin areas of the country's scenery for their authentic character and beauty. Here the greens and browns of the crater subtly contrast with the blues and pinks of the background, where mountains are visible in the distance. George Sand visited Auvergne on several occasions, transc...