Masks from the Control Room (Masques du vestibule de contrôle)

One of the most accomplished architectural photographers in 19th-century France, Louis-Émile Durandelle is best known for his comprehensive documentation of construction of the new Paris Opéra in 1861–75. The Opéra was an opulent structure that would come to symbolize the ambitions of Second Empire Paris. Between 1865 and 1872 Durandelle produced some 200 images of the building, and published 115, including this one, in the massive, eight-volume architectural work Le Nouvel Opéra de Paris. Much of what Durandelle photographed would not be visible to the unaided eye: close-up details of decorative elements that cannot be seen from street level, for example, or internal structural elements hidden inside the completed building. His images freed architects from drawing complex patterns and moldings by hand, kept clients abreast of progress in construction, and formed a historical record of a huge urban undertaking.