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Lot Essay
This image was originally made by Baldus as part of an elaborate presentation album for Queen Victoria during her historic visit to France in August 1855. Accompanied by Emperor Napoleon III, the queen made her journey by train on the Chemin de Fer du Nord railway. Commissioned by Baron James de Rothschild, the principal investor of the railway, the album was planned as a souvenir for the Queen recording her stops along the way from Paris to Boulogne.
Princesse Mathilde, the cousin of Emperor Napoleon III, was an active patron of the arts. This summer retreat, north of Paris, was the site of her well-known artistic and literary salons. Although Baldus traveled with the Queen, many of the images included in the album were actually made previous to the trip. It is suggested that this image was made by Baldus on an earlier trip by train in either the winter, fall or possibly early spring. The shuttered windows and bare trees indicate that the house was closed during the out of season months. (Daniel, The Photgraphs of douard Baldus, pp. 45-48.)
There are two other extant prints of this image known. One is contained in the presentation album Visite de sa majest la reine Victoria et de son altese royale le Prince Albert in The Royal Archive, Windsor Castle and the second is in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Princesse Mathilde, the cousin of Emperor Napoleon III, was an active patron of the arts. This summer retreat, north of Paris, was the site of her well-known artistic and literary salons. Although Baldus traveled with the Queen, many of the images included in the album were actually made previous to the trip. It is suggested that this image was made by Baldus on an earlier trip by train in either the winter, fall or possibly early spring. The shuttered windows and bare trees indicate that the house was closed during the out of season months. (Daniel, The Photgraphs of douard Baldus, pp. 45-48.)
There are two other extant prints of this image known. One is contained in the presentation album Visite de sa majest la reine Victoria et de son altese royale le Prince Albert in The Royal Archive, Windsor Castle and the second is in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.