For a short time, Courbet played with the idea of presenting some of his works at the official French exhibition in the Viennese Prater, the large public park (fig. 2). In a letter written on January 23, 1873, a few days before the official deadline for submissions, Castagnary encouraged him: “You have to exhibit in Vienna by all means. Not in Paris, not even in France, but abroad, everywhere; being present must become your line of conduct.”[7] Yet Courbet’s plan of taking part in the nation’s