Its focus is on what's happening at present rather than in the past. Courbet has captured what his sisters were doing at the very same moment in time (Galbreat, 2014)
No much variation exists between stroke size in the background and foreground for suggesting depth. However, more uniform and straight horizontal brushstrokes and pastel shading on the far-off water gives an impression of recession and depth (Pioch, 2002)
This trend however changed in the late 19th Century when with the advancement in photography and better cameras, more photographers began to use photography as a form of art. Artists like Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Steichen were very instrumental in revolutionizing photography into fine art almost a decade after it had been invented (Ireland C., 2010)
An example of such works is the Gustava Courbet "The Stone Breakers" painting that was done between1849-50. This painting depicts a realist view of poverty in the everyday life with the irony of poverty inflicting both the young and old who are confined to breaking stones for a living (The Art Story, 2016)
Impressionist pieces of art were not allowed space for display in the exhibitions of the 1860s and 1870s, indeed they had to form their own exhibition of impressionists. Some of the now famous impressionist paintings are Poppy field by Musee d'Orsay, the blue dancers by Edgar Degas and Lady in Blue by Paul Cezanne among others (Webexhibits, 2016)