The Bois de Boulogne is a large public park on the western edge of Paris, France, built from 1853 to 1858. The forest served as a camping ground for 40,000 British and Russian troops following the defeat of Napoleon I in 1814, and it was a largely empty assortment of bleak ruined meadows, tree stumps, and dismal stagnant ponds until Napoleon III decided to cede the land to Paris in 1852 with the goal of turning it into a park. It became the second-largest park in Paris, covering 2,088 acres (2.5 times the area of Central Park in New York City).
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Manet's 1863 painting Luncheon on the Grass, possibly depicting prostitution in the Bois de Boulogne