"Everyone knows Baldus," a reviewer wrote in 1859.
By the mid-1850s, Édouard-Denis Baldus was France's most successful photographer and at the pinnacle of his career.
Baldus actually began his career as a painter, before turning to photography in 1849. This was around the time that paper negatives were becoming popular.
Describing himself as a peintre photographe (painter photographer) from then on, Baldus later went on to form the Société Héliographique, the world's first photographic organisation.
 Édouard-Denis Baldus's photograph of the Royans bridge in Paris |
Baldus's images focussed on railways, landscapes and architecture - with the latter two combining in this image which is appearing for sale at Tajan, Paris, tomorrow (March 4).
It features the Royans bridge, photographed around 1854, in a salt test negative paper piece numbered "No. 53". The work measures 444 x 341mm.
It is one of many images produced by Baldus after the Commission des Monuments Historiques (Historic Monuments Commission) asked him to document architecture in France in 1851.
Baldus's bridge Royans will auction in Paris tomorrow with a €3,000-4,000 (around $5,520) estimate.
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