Portal, Amiens Cathedral
Artist
Édouard Baldus
(French, born Prussia, 1813 - 1889)
Date1855
MediumSalt print
DimensionsImage and sheet: 17 5/16 × 13 5/16 inches (43.97 × 33.81 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation
Object number2008.41.3
SignedOn image recto, bottom right, in negative: "E Baldus."
InscribedOn image recto, lower left, in negative: "Amiens";
On image recto, bottom center, in negative: "No.42.".
Markingsnone
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionImage of an elaborately carved front doorway of a Cathedral. Carved sculptures surround the double door; there is scaffolding constructed to the left of the composition.Gallery LabelBuilt largely between 1220 and 1288, Amiens Cathedral is an outstanding example of French Gothic religious architecture. The extensive sculptures seen here on one portal depicted biblical saints and stories and were meant to educate worshippers at a time few people could read. Édouard-Denis Baldus, one of France’s most accomplished architectural and landscape photographers of the 1850s and 1860s, here pictures Amiens with bold, formal clarity. Baldus photographed many historic cathedrals and monuments throughout France, to document the nation’s architectural heritage.
Leon Bourquelot (from the photographer); The Bourquelot family; Serge Clin, Versailles; Thackrey & Robertson, San Francisco; The Quillan Company (acquired in 1989); Sotheby's New York auction, Sale #NO8425 - The Quillan Collection of 19th and 20th Century Photographs, Lot #0044
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