id: 156055 accession number: 1991.306 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1991.306 updated: 2023-03-14 12:01:45.098000 Chemin de fer du Nord. Ligne de Paris à Boulogne Vues Photographique: South Gable of the Boulogne Railway Station, c. 1855. Édouard Baldus (French, 1813–1889). Salted paper print, albumenized, from waxed paper negative; image: 29.4 x 40.7 cm (11 9/16 x 16 in.); matted: 50.8 x 61 cm (20 x 24 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Maria Marewski and Robert Mann 1991.306 title: South Gable of the Boulogne Railway Station title in original language: series: Chemin de fer du Nord. Ligne de Paris à Boulogne Vues Photographique series in original language: creation date: c. 1855 creation date earliest: 1850 creation date latest: 1860 current location: creditline: Gift of Maria Marewski and Robert Mann copyright: --- culture: France, 19th century technique: salted paper print, albumenized, from waxed paper negative department: Photography collection: PH - French 19th Century type: Photograph find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Édouard Baldus (French, 1813–1889) - artist Édouard Baldus French, b. Prussia, 1813 - 1889 The large and regal prints made by Édouard-Denis Baldus are widely agreed to be among the finest photographic images ever produced. After serving as an artillery officer in the Prussian army, Baldus left his native country for France during the 1830s to become a painter. He exhibited his paintings of religious subjects, portraits, and genre scenes in the Paris Salons from 1841 - 51 and was naturalized as a French citizen in 1849, the same year his interests turned to photography. Combining his training in painting with an inquisitive, inventive technical expertise, Baldus produced a body of work of exceptional quality and interest. His subjects included architecture, landscape, and engineering feats. In 1851 the Commission des monuments historiques selected him for the Missions héliographique—a government project that sponsored the photographing of endangered classical and medieval architecture in France. For this important series Baldus produced views of Burgundy, Provence, and the Dauphiné, and the following year he completed a commission for the Ministry of the Interior. In 1855 he began his photography of railroads, some of his most distinctive work. A copy of his album recording the line between Paris and Boulogne was presented to Queen Victoria. He also documented the flooding of the Rhone, as well as construction of the new Louvre and other Paris views. A founding member of the Société héliographique and a member of the Société française de photographie (1857), Baldus exhibited his photographs widely in London, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Brussels, and Paris and won numerous medals of award. A master printer, he produced combination prints in the early 1850s, frequently retouching his images with pencil and ink. His best work appears most often in specially assembled albums -- such as Les principaux Monuments de la France reproduits en héliogravure par E. Baldus, published in 1875 from plates drawn from earlier negatives. Today, his work continues to be much sought after and to set a standard by which other photographers are judged. T.W.F. * Baron James de Rothschild - publisher --- measurements: Image: 29.4 x 40.7 cm (11 9/16 x 16 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 61 cm (20 x 24 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Signs of Affection: Gifts Honoring the Museum's 75th Anniversary opening date: 1992-10-27T05:00:00 Signs of Affection: Gifts Honoring the Museum's 75th Anniversary. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 27, 1992-January 3, 1993). title: Industry and Photography: Selections from the Permanent Collection opening date: 1997-11-16T00:00:00 Industry and Photography: Selections from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1997-March 1, 1998). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; 11/16/97 - 3/1/98. "Industry and Photography: Selections from the Permanent Collection." --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. page number: Reproduced: P. 91 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1991.306/1991.306_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1991.306/1991.306_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1991.306/1991.306_full.tif