Édouard Baldus, Caen, Saint-Pierre, Vue générale, n° 115, 1858

Edouard Baldus (1813-1889) was a French photographer best known for his architectural and landscape photographs. Born in Grunbach, near Strasbourg, France, he began his career as a painter before turning to photography in the 1840s. Baldus was a pioneer of large format photography, using a camera that produced 18x24cm glass negatives. He was commissioned by the French government to document the construction of the new railway lines in the 1850s, and his photographs of the Pont du Gard, the Gare du Nord in Paris and other landmarks are considered some of the finest examples of early architectural photography. Baldus also photographed landscapes and cityscapes, including views of Paris and its environs, as well as scenes from Italy and Egypt. His work was highly influential in the development of photography as an art form, and he is considered one of the most important photographers of the 19th century. Today, Baldus's photographs are held in collections around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.