Henri Jean-Louis Le Secq (French, 1818-1882) Street Leading up to the West (Occidental) Façade of the Cathedral of Reims, 1850 Salt print from paper negative 8-3/4 x 7 inches (22.2 x 17.8 cm) 14-3/8 x 11-1/4 inches (mount) Titled in ink on mount. LITERATURE: Parry, Eugenia, Sartre, Josiane. Henri Le Secq, Photographe de 1850 à 1860. Paris, 1986, cat. 62. Both the paper negative and another copy of the image in a later cyanotype (1870) is in the collection of the Bibliotheque des Arts Decoratifs. Notre-Dame de Reims (Our Lady of Reims) is the seat of the Archdiocese of Reims, where the kings of France were crowned. The cathedral replaced an older church, destroyed by fire in 1211, that was built on the site of the basilica where Clovis was baptized by Saint Remi, bishop of Reims, in AD 496. That original structure had itself been erected on the site of some Roman baths. A major tourism destination, the cathedral receives about one million visitors annually. HID03101062020 © 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved