Delmaet, Hyacinthe César (1828-62), and Durandelle, Louis-Émile (1839-1917), French architectural photographers, who went into partnership in 1854 as the Second Empire's building and development boom gathered pace. After Delmaet's death his widow Clémence Jacob married Durandelle and they continued the business together until her death in 1890, after which Durandelle retired. Specializing in images of architectural and engineering construction, many of which seem precociously modernistic, they created magnificent series on, among other projects, the building and decoration of the Paris Opera (1865-72), the restoration of Mont-Saint-Michel (1874-89), the construction of the church of Sacré-Cœur (1877-90) and the Eiffel Tower (1887-9), and the extension of the Louvre (1882-4). Collections of their work are in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the International Museum of Photography, and the Canadian Centre for Architecture.
— Robin Lenman
